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PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
I
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF
PUBLIC ART INSTRUCTION
IN MASSACHUSETTS
HENRY TURNER BAILEY
AGENT STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON :: MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
A Sketch of the Histoky of Public Art
Instruction in Massachusetts.
U The Years of Establishment, 18O0-82,
Early Advocates.
In his introduction to an English book on "The Hundred
Greatest Men," Emerson wrote these words: "The history
of the world is nothing but a procession of clothed ideas. As
certainly as water falls in rain on the tops of mountains, and
runs down into valleys, plains and pits, so does thought fall
first in the best minds, and runs down from class to class, until
it reaches the masses and works revolutions."
The history of public art instruction in Massachusetts would
seem to exemplify the law thus happily put by our poet-seer,
for as early as 1749 the worth of drawing as a school study
appeared to the mind of Benjamin Franklin. In 1821 that
pioneer of modern methods, the famous "Master Fo -e" of
Boston, required of his pupils " Drawing not only of maps,
but linear drawing in the simplest applications to geometrical
figures especially." 1 From 1827 to 1836 drawing was a per-
mitted study in the upper classes of the Boston English High
School. 2 It was vigorously advocated by the Nestor of Ameri-
can education, Henry Barnard, and by the great Horace Mann.
In an article on drawing which follows the conclusion of his
celebrated "seventh report" in the Common School Journal,
Juue, 1844, Mr. Mann says : —
The observations made in visiting German schools, in regard to
this subject, upon which we have dwelt at some length in the preced-
ing report, have confirmed our previous views of its utility and
desirableness ; and the best and almost universally adopted mode of
teaching this art we found to be drawing from nature.
» Barnard's School Journal, Vol. 10, No. 25, 1861.
3 Report of Supt. John D. Philbrick, Boston, 1874.
2 IDEAS OF HORACE MANN.
He then describes a system of instruction devised by a Pro-
fessor Schmid of Berlin, who, " after an experience of twenty
or thirty years," had "gradually simplified his method to a
set of blocks forming a right-angled pillar, to a round ball, a
cylinder and a niche. . . . The first artists of Germany," it
appears, had " resorted to his rooms to go thoroughly through
his courses of lessons." Mr. Mann continues : —
Any carpenter, or any boy of fourteen who can use carpenter's
tools, can make the blocks from the description given of them, and
at a trifling expense. It is essential that each pupil should possess
a set of his own, unless they are made upon so large a scale that
half a dozen can use them at once, — but this latter plan involves
many difficulties, from the usual size of school desks and the want
of room in even the best sized schoolrooms.
When each pupil is provided with a set of blocks, the whole school
can draw at once in perfect silence, or a portion can draw while others
are differently employed. Any primary school teacher who prepares
herself to teach this course of drawing will find it easy to instruct the
youngest children in her school, by varying the first half-dozen lessons,
(previous to those in which perspective is introduced) ; and for this
purpose a few sets of larger blocks will be ample material, because,
as little children can draw the front faces only, they can be placed
at a greater distance and higher up than for those pupils who can
go on with the whole course. It will be found a means of facilitating
their learning to write and print, and will fill up many minutes, if not
hours, days and weeks, otherwise unemployed. The extreme accu-
racy required by Professor Schmid's method will so sharpen the eye
and the perceptions of those who rigidly follow his directions that
teachers will be surprised to find how soon and how easily they will
acquire the power of sketching objects on the blackboard in illustra-
tion of the various subjects which they may teach to children. This
power alone is worth the cost of much time and trouble to every
teacher ; and we think that every one who has a true interest in his
vocation will thankfully receive a method by which he can make such
a power his own.
Here in 1844 we find advocated (1) drawing directly fim
objects, (2) a set of objects for each pupil, (3) class instruc-
tion, (4) sketching upon the blackboard for purposes of illus-
tration, and (5) the practice of drawing for its educational
value.
This method of Professor Schmid is given in detail in the
next two volumes of the Common School Journal.
/
1
MRS. SIGOURNEY'S OPINIONS.
'3
now as dry as dust and as valueless, but it was a beginning.
In running it over one finds occasionally a choice bit. Mr.
Schniid says, in his instructions to teachers : 1 —
My first lesson is, after a pupil has made one point on his paper,
to teach him to place another point perpendicularly over it. I do
not say at what distance above, but only perpendicularly over it.
If a child cannot do this, his power of drawing has not yet burst
from the bud.
How widely this German system was adopted in Massachu-
setts it is impossible to say. There are no traces of it in the
extracts from the school reports published in the official records
of the State Board of Education. It required almost a genera-
tion for Mann's advanced ideas to run down from class to class
to make possible the revolutionary act of 1870.
The Idea of a Beautiful Environment.
But during these years truth was falling into the best minds
here and there. It is interesting to trace back to their sources
among the hills the rivulets which have united to form our
present " mill privileges."
The Common School Journal for March, 1840, contained
the following, from the pen of Mrs. Sigourney : —
I hope the time is coming when every isolated village schoolhouse
shall be as an Attic temple, on whose exterior the occupant may study
the principles of symmetry and grace. . . . Why should not the
velvet turf attached to them be bordered with hedges, divided by
gravel walks, tufted with flowers ? Why should not the thick man-
tling vine decorate the porch, or the woodbine and convolvulus look
in at the window, touching the heart of the young learner with a
thought o^ Him " whose breath perfumes them, and whose pencil
paints " ?
Why should not the interior of our schoolhouses aim at somewhat
of the taste and elegance of a parlor? Might not the vase of flowers
jirich the mantlepiece, and the walls display not only well-executed
maps but historical engravings and pictures ?
There is a plea for schoolroom decoration a half-century
before the formation of the Public School Art League. In
w some wise man on the Sterling school board said : —
the
1 Cornmou School Journal, July, 1844.
4 VALUE OF A BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENT.
Not only the beautiful in nature should be studied, but the beauti-
ful in art. The child should never be allowed to look upon pictures
the object of which is caricature. Everything that is low, comic or
in bad taste should be studiously kept from the eye of the child.
Better see no pictures than bad pictures, such as violate the rules
of good taste and of decency. It is as easy to awaken a correct taste
in a child as a false one ; easier to interest him in a beautiful picture
or a pretty toy than in one which has not its counterpart on the earth
nor under it. . . . The child, then, should early cultivate the princi-
ples of a correct taste. It will be to him a perennial source of pleasure
and profit.
In 1859 the school committee of Westfield waxed eloquent
upon the subject of ugliness in schoolhouses and its evil effect
upon the young mind. In 1861 the school committee of AVest
Springfield declares that " 'Works of art should hang upon the
schoolroom walls, in place of the carvings and pen and ink
sketches Avhich so often disfigure them." And A. Bronson
Alcott, then superintending the Concord schools, said, in his
report : " Certainly the place where a child passes so large a
part of the most impressible period of his life should be . . .
made as charming as possible." That same year the chairman
of the school committee of Lynn said : —
We have seen evidences of public spirit rightly directed, in the pleas-
ant paintings which adorn the walls. If all were so adorned, we are
confident that every picture would have a gentle and refining influence
upon the minds of the scholars, and would add to the cheerfulness
of the schoolroom. And often an impulse would be given to the
love of the beautiful and the pure, which would change the whole
current of the child's life. . . . Let some man of public spirit place
a good picture in the large room of the high schoolhouse, and then
say to some other man, whose generosity he knows, " Go and do
likewise." Let this process continue till all our schoolrooms shall
become cheerful and attractive.
The next year the school committee of Great Barrington, in
commenting upon a fine new schoolroom, said that the parents
should visit it to observe its influence upon the children.
" The perception of this influence would be a profitable experi-
ence to those among us who believe that their children can
learn as much in some old rookery, unsuspicious of pa'
whose battered walls and shattered windows look as if it ( 6
DAWN OF OBJECTIVE TEACHING.
5
been shelled by one of Foote's gunboats." In 1866 the com-
mittee of Tewksbury declared that one may 44 as well think
of carving a nice statue with an axe, or painting a delicate
portrait with a white-wash brush, as securing a first-class
school in a fifth-rate schoolroom."
The Idea of Objective Teaching.
Object teaching had its advocates in " Master Fowle,"
Henry Barnard and others, but it was long in gaining any
general recognition. The reports show that by 1857 the idea
was beginning to run down from class to class. From Sterling
came a plea for observing nature. " Not books," said Chelsea's
report, " but Nature and the human voice, eye and heart, should
be the methods in early instruction " ; the Natick committee
wrote : —
We believe that the true theory of education requires the youug
child to be educated first through his senses, or his powers of obser-
vation. He should be taught carefully to observe all objects about
him of which he can form any definite idea.
The superintendent of schools in Maiden devoted a section
of his report for 1863 to object teaching. He called it " a
different branch of instruction." The next year the school
committee of Reading said "the method should and must
become a prominent feature in our schools." In his report
for 1866 the Worcester superintendent speaks of "the system
of object teaching, which has Fargely found favor of late," as
having been «' somewhat introduced into the schools of lower
grade " in his city. He adds : —
In some cities this system has been pressed to an absurd extreme.
. . . Yet, used with discrimination and good seuse, it has great
value . . . and it should be cherished and commended to all teachers
of the younger children as a happy method of enlivening a school,
relieving the young minds from a wearying study of books, kindling
their interest in passing scenes and surrounding objects, and giving
i m a store of information on common things beyond the range of
sir technical studies.
That same year the report of John D. Philbrick of Boston
musses the whole problem at length, and concludes with
?se words : —
6
IDEAS OF THE VALUE OF DRAWING.
When teachers find that they can afford to give time to it, they
will not be slow in finding out how to handle it to advantage. They
will have by them the works of Sheldon or Calkins, or Burton.
They will have their collections of objects, — animal, vegetable and
mineral ; artificial and natural ; indigenous and exotic ; domestic and
foreign ; and so we shall at length witness the consummation of the
wish expressed by Professor Agassiz, that every primary school
might have its own little museum. . . .
Ideas of the Value of Drawing.
The report of the school committee of Worcester for the
year 1858 contained this statement : —
Drawing should be taught in the high school, provided it can be as
a scientific art. The mere copying of pictures, however, which
sometimes passes for an accomplishment, should be shunned as a
waste of time. Drawing in the other grades of schools, considering
the average condition of the scholars and the short time they spend
in getting what must answer for an education, it seems to us on
mature reflection, is not to be attempted.
Considering the fact that the school committee that year
consisted of twenty-four of the most influential and learned
men in the city, it would seem to us, upon mature reflection,
that ideas of the value of general instruction in drawing had
not yet run down from the ''best" minds into those of even
the first " class."
However, all the wisdom of the time was not confined within
the limits of the Worcester school board. E. B. Willson,
superintendent of schools for West Roxbury, thought that
"Little children might well enough learn something of geo-
metrical figures, something of botanical names and something
of other branches of natural history, and might with particular
propriety be taught drawing and many other things usually
thought beyond their reach." Meanwhile, Mr. John D. Phil-
brick, superintendent of schools in Boston, had procured at
his own expense " a lot of drawing copies, models and books,"
used by the art department in England, " because there ^vas
at that time absolutely no apparatus to be had " in America.
" So indifferent were the [school] committee," says Mr.
Philbrick, 1 "that they declined to defray the expense." /Mr.
» Report of 1874.
OPINION OF A MANUFACTURER.
Philbrick soon after prepared the Boston primary school draw-
ing slates and tablets ; but they were very slowly introduced
by the district committees, and usually upon request of the
more enterprising teachers.
In 1858 the school committee of Roxbury said: "Some
attention has been paid to the first principles of drawing, under
the thorough instruction of Mr. Bartholomew. ... Its bene-
ficial effects as seen in the penmanship, in the habits of accurate
observation, in the just notions of proportions and relations,
as well as in the ability to sketch the outlines of objects
according to some orderly method. It is surely an exercise of
much utility," they conclude, ' 1 and should have its proper place
in our schools."
Ideas of the value of drawing were not confined during these
years to the professional classes. In June, 1859, Hon. George
S. Bout well, then secretary of the Board of Education, issued
a circular to gather information " concerning the influence of
education upon the characters of the laborers employed in
manufacturing." In the twenty-third report the several re-
plies from the agents of the great manufacturing companies
are given in full. Mr. William B. Whiting of Newburyport,
in answering the question as to the importance of thorough
education for children, said : —
If our legislators would establish in manufacturing towns schools
of design, in which children who show aptitude for drawing might be
taught to design patterns for calicoes, lawns, shawls, etc., and also
schools where youth could be taught chemistry, as applied to arts
and manufactures, the education could not be too thorough for the
interests of both employer and employed.
Here are statements as to the value of drawing, gleaned
from the reports from various towns during the decade previ-
ous to 1870 : —
Danvers (1859). — We recognize the usefulness of such exercises
-> drawing and picture drawing . . . they are graces of scholar-
. . not to be acquired at the expense of higher accomplish-
ments.
:ell (1862). — No more agreeable and profitable change from
clious routine of the schoolroom can be found than an occasional
extu:ise in drawing. ... As a means of creating, developing and
8
OPINIONS OF SCHOOL COMMITTEES.
perfecting a love of art ; as an aid to penmanship ; as an aid to geo-
graphical knowledge ; as a diversion, rendering the schoolroom at-
tractive and pleasant ; as a cultivation of a very useful and universal
but neglected talent, — in all these and other particulars it is worthy
of consideration and encouragement by the committee and teachers.
South Danvers (1863). — Drawing is always an amusing exercise
for children, and we think that teachers have allowed it to be too ex-
clusively an amusing exercise. . . . We think this art should take
a place in our primary schools, second to none but reading.
Berlin (1864) . — Another branch, for which we bespeak encourage-
ment in school and at home, is that of drawing, — map drawing, pict-
ure drawing and all forms of diagrams. It is within the memory of
some, when to draw a picture of a horse or dog upon the slate, how-
ever soberly, was a serious offence in the schoolroom. Better views
prevail. No employment is more profitable or pleasant, even to the
little scholars of the primer. It employs time and improves the eye
and the hand and the taste. It is vastly useful in mathematics.
Above all in geography. . . . The application of the subject in
practical life is manifold. It is not an art useful only to the painter,
the architect and the engineer, — it belongs to the farmer, the
carpenter, the smith and every mechanic. The schoolroom is the
place to cultivate it ; but it will be found a pleasure everywhere, as
well as an art universally useful. Let parents encourage drawing at
home. It will afford profitable recreation as well as mental improve-
ment.
Boston (1867). — We think that drawing is worth far more atten-
tion than is now given to it, not as an ornamental branch of educa-
tion, superfluous unless as a matter of show, but as a most desirable
\ discipline both for the eye and the hand, essential to the best culture
of the perceptive faculties, identified with habits of pure taste, and in
many respects of the greatest practical advantage, not only at the
time of youthful study, but through the whole of the maturer life.
There is hardly an artisan who would not be a better workman if he
knew how to handle a pencil, and neither a merchant nor a profes-
sional man who would be the less qualified for his duties if he knew
how to draw a plan or sketch a landscape. This study is connected
with habits of correct observation. It opens the eye to nature.
It is in itself a language. It becomes to its possessor forever a
pleasant resource, while its pursuit is in nearly all cases so delightful
as to be a joy rather than a task. Besides which, it is an actual aid
in the development of the other faculties. . . . We would make
drawing one of the requisite qualifications on the part of a teacher,
and would also have more time devoted to its instruction in our
schools.
OPINIONS OF SUPERINTENDENTS.
9
New Bedford (1868). — It needs to be clearly understood that the
object drawing in our schools is not to teach the scholars how to
make pictures so much as to train the hand to be expert and graceful
in its motions, and to educate the observing powers. It is to be
begun, therefore, at the earliest moment and systematically followed
up, enlisting the deepest interest and care of the teacher. No class
is to be exempted from such exercises.
Charlestown (1868). — The object of the development of man is to
witness to the glory of God by culture and obedience. Whatever
enables us to fulfil this duty is, in the purest and highest sense, use-
ful. . . . The training or cultivation of the sight has with us been
too much neglected. We are placed in a world of beauty, with
capacities to enjoy, and with a life-principle which is quickened by
what we admire and love, and which is as full} 7 capable of culture
and expansion as any other faculty of the mind, while it possesses
the widest range and commands the greatest variety of objects.
Drawing is regarded by most people as a needless accomplishment,
quite too frivolous to secure the attention of industrious youth ;
nevertheless, if a bright boy exhibits a talent for imitation and pro-
duces a good picture, he is at once applauded and pronounced a genius,
even by those who have no interest in the cultivation of the art.
Time and space are not at my command to set forth at length the
relation of this art to the various activities of life. " It has an
intrinsic and practical value in every pursuit in which form is con-
sidered, such as architecture, machinery, pattern-making in all its
varieties, jewelry, and engraving of every kind. It is indispensable
in inventions, and in discoveries in the natural sciences, in perpetuat-
ing knowledge acquired. There is scarcely a calling in life in which
this art would not find a useful application." But these are minor
considerations, compared with its importance in educating the mind.
It addresses itself to the earliest developed faculties of the child,
and should receive attention -as soon as the child can hold and guide
the pencil. Were this the case, we should secure far greater elegance
and beauty in writing than we now obtain. The eye and hand
should be trained in the delineation of form before they are set to
imitating the intricate lines of manuscript.
We receive our idea of beauty from the objects of nature, in pro-
portion to our acquaintance with those objects and our power to
comprehend them. It has been truthfully said, " The artist sees the
works of nature as they are seen by no other." The practice of
drawing assists in forming the habit of correct observation, enlarges
the mind and enables it to grasp a much greater variety of truth con-
cerning the objects beheld. It quickens the perception, corrects and
10 THE MOVEMENT FOR PUBLIC ART INSTRUCTION.
stimulates the imagination, and presents nature transfigured to the
well-cultured eve. By directing the mind to the diversity in the
forms and size of objects, and to the delicate coloring in landscape and
clouds, it multiplies the sources of pleasure, and becomes to every
pupil the occasion of genuine delight. "It is so fascinating to
the young that it will agreeably and usefully occupy their leisure
hours, will render home more attractive, and serve to check those idle
habits which, when once formed, result in mischief and even ruin.
It tends also to refinement of taste, the elevation of the moral feel-
ings, the cultivating and developing of the love of the beautiful, and
tends, through nature, to lead the mind to Nature's G-od."
The Act of 1870.
The foregoing quotations are sufficient to indicate that dur-
ing these years a sentiment in favor of drawing as a school
study was growing steadily in different parts of the State.
Drawing was already required in the State normal schools 1 and
in the girls' high and normal school of Boston, 2 and was per-
mitted by act of Legislature in all schools. 3 It had been pre-
sented in the State institutes by Mr. Sutermeister, Mr. Krusi 4
and Mr. Bartholomew, 5 and was taught in twelve wards of the
city of Boston, 2 in New Bedford, Cambridge, and several other
cities, and in the high schools of Roxbury and Dorchester by
special instructors. 2 Through the efforts of Rev. Edward
Everett Hale and others drawing classes had been organized
in connection with the Boston evening schools. The first class
met in 1866-67 in the vestry of the Church of the Good Samar-
itan, on Shawmut Avenue. 6 Not, however, until 1869 did the
advocates of drawing as a school study bring the matter before
the Legislature for definite action. In June of that year pub-
lic sentiment found a voice in the following petition, drawn by
Mr. Francis C. Lowell : —
To the Honorable General Court of the State of Massachusetts.
Your petitioners respectfully represent that every branch of manu-
factures in which the citizens of Massachusetts are engaged requires,
1 Tenth annual report, Horace Mann, page 131.
2 Report of special committee on drawing, Boston, 1870. 3 Acts of 1860.
4 Twenty- second annual report, State Board of Education, page 36.
s Thirty-third annual report, State Board of Education, page 106.
« Address by Dr. E. E. Hale before Massachusetts Normal Art School Alumni, 1890.
THE PETITION TO THE LEGISLATURE. 11
in the details of the processes connected with it, some knowledge of
drawing and other arts of design on the part of the skilled workmen
engaged.
At the present time no wide provision is made for instruction in
drawing in the public schools.
Our manufacturers therefore compete under disadvantages with the
manufacturers of Europe, for in all the manufacturing countries of
Europe free provision is made for instructing workmen of all classes
in drawing. At this time nearly all the best draughtsmen in our
shops are men thus trained abroad.
In England, within the last ten years, very large additions have
been made to the provisions, which were before very generous, for
free public instruction of workmen in drawing. Your petitioners are
assured that boys and girls, by the time they are sixteen years of age,
acquire great proficiency in mechanical drawing and in other arts of
design.
We are also assured that men and women who have been long en-
gaged in the processes of manufacture learn readily, and with pleas-
ure, enough of the arts of design to assist them materially in their
work.
For such reasons we ask that the Board of Education may be
directed to report in detail to the next General Court some definite
plan for introducing schools for drawing, free to all men, women and
children in all towns of the Commonwealth of more than five thou-
sand inhabitants.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
Jacob Bigelow. John Amory Lowell.
J. Thomas Stevenson. E. B. Bigelow.
William A. Burke. Francis C. Lowell.
James Lawrence. John H. Clifford.
Edw. E. Hale. William Gray.
Theodore Lyman. F. H. Peabody.
Jordan, Marsh & Co. A. A. Lawrence & Co.
As a result, the next General Court —
Resolved, That the board of education be directed to consider the
expediency of making provision by law for giving free instruction to
men, women, and children in mechanical drawing, either in existing
schools, or in those to be established for that purpose, in all towns of
the Commonwealth having more than five thousand inhabitants, and
report a definite plan therefor to the next general court. [Approved
June 12, 1869.
12 EARLY LEGISLATION RELATIVE TO DRAWING.
The Board of Education, in obedience to the resolve, took
immediate action. A special committee was appointed to
make inquiries and to investigate the subject thoroughly.
This committee prepared a circular asking for advice and in-
formation, and it elicited prompt and elaborate replies " con-
taining nearly all that can be said upon the subject." Some
of them are published in full in the thirty-fourth report of the
Board of Education.
The report of this special committee of the State Board of
Education is here given in full, because of its importance as an
index of the best thought of the time : —
After a conference with Messrs. Hale and Lowell, in behalf of the
petitioners, and with other gentlemen interested in the subject, in
which the views of the petitioners were fully explained and elabo-
rately set forth in a carefully prepared bill to be presented to the
Legislature, the committee deemed it advisable to seek for further
information and suggestions from gentlemen of well-known experi-
ence and skill in this department of instruction, and accordingly pre-
pared the following circular : —
Bostox, Dec. 27 1869.
To
Dear Sir : — At the last session of the Legislature of Massachusetts the
following resolve was passed : —
Resolved, That the board of education be directed to consider the expediency of mak-
ing provision by law for giving free instruction to men, women, and children in me-
chanical drawing, either in existing schools, or in those to be established for that
purpose, in all towns of the Commonwealth having more than five thousand inhabitants,
and report a definite plan therefor to the next general court. [Approved June 12, 1869.
It is presumed that the term " mechanical drawing," as used in the resolve,
is intended to comprise all those branches of drawing which are applicable
to the productive or industrial arts.
In the investigation of this important subject it is deemed desirable to pro-
cure the opinions and views respecting it of such persons as are most
competent to consider it from different stand-points. You are therefore
respectfully requested to favor the Board of Education with your observa-
tions on the matter, under the following toirics : —
1. The advantages which might be expected to result from the contem-
plated instruction in mechanical or industrial drawing.
2. The course and methods of instruction appropriate for the objects in
view.
3. The models, casts, patterns and other apparatus necessary to be sup-
plied.
4. The organization and supervision of the proposed drawing schools.
ACTION OF STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. 13
5. The best means of promoting among the people an interest in the sub-
ject of art education.
6. Any other remarks relating to the subject, not embraced in the fore-
going topics.
Please direct your reply to the Secretary of the Board of Education, at
the State House.
Very truly yours,
D. H. Mason,
John D. Philbkick,
G. G. Hubbard,
Joseph White,
Committee of the Board of Education.
The above circular was sent to various gentlemen whom they con-
sidered best qualified to give advice and information upon the topics
named therein. In most cases very elaborate and prompt replies
were received, giving valuable opinions and plans as to the best
methods of instruction in mechanical drawing as defined in the circu-
lar. These documents contain nearly all that can be said upon the
subjects, and are respectfully submitted to this Board for their con-
sideration.
Your committee are more than ever impressed with the importance
of urging upon the people of the Commonwealth the introduction of
free-hand drawing into all our public schools.
It cannot be denied that the almost total neglect of this branch of
instruction in past times has been a great defect in our system of
education.
While great progress has been made in general and practical knowl-
edge, the taste and love for the arts and art culture generally have
not much improved.
That we are far behind many other nations in all the means of art-
culture is very evident. We have few models or museums of art in
our country to which students, can resort for study and instruction.
Our native artisans and mechanics feel this sad defect. Foreign
workmen occupy the best and most responsible places in our factories
and workshops. Our most promising students in sculpture and
painting are compelled to seek in other countries the advantages
which are necessary to their success, and when they become distin-
guished they elect to remain where they can receive the greatest en-
couragement and the highest appreciation of their skill and genius.
Our State and country need the influences of refined art-culture.
Before we can reach a very high position, a generation at least must
be educated, with improved tastes ; and a more general appreciation
of the nature and value of true art-culture must prevail amongst the
people. Much can and must be done for the present generation of
14 BOARD'S RECOMMENDATION TO LEGISLATURE.
mechanics and artisans. In all our large towns and cities, where a
sufficient number of adult pupils can be found, schools should be
established and every encouragement afforded for improvement in
those branches of drawing which belong to the industrial arts.
Agents could be employed to go through the Commonwealth and
interest the people in this most important subject. Wherever even-
ing classes can be formed of the young or old, free instruction should
be furnished in free-hand drawing ; and in a few years, our enter-
prising people will begin to discover in our own communities and
schools as good artists and artisans as can be found in the most
favored portions of other countries.
We have no doubt that the greatest good will be accomplished by
proper instruction in our public schools, and that our chief efforts
should be directed toward this end. Teachers should be required to
be qualified to instruct in free-hand drawing, and the work should be
begun in the primary departments and should be continued with zeal
and fidelity through the period of school life.
We earnestly commend this subject to the consideration of this
Board, and we trust that the secretary will be requested to make such
extracts from the communications referred to as he may think best,
and to submit them to the Legislature under the authority of the act
referred to, with such plans and recommendations as to the passage
of a law regulating instruction in industrial drawing as shall be most
conducive to the desired result.
This report was presented to the Board in March, 1870, and
the Board recommended the following for consideration by the
Legislature : —
1. An enactment requiring elementary and free-hand drawing to
be taught in all the public schools of every grade in the Common-
wealth ; and which shall further require all cities and towns having
more than thousand inhabitants to make provision for giving
annually free instruction in industrial or mechanical drawing to men,
women and children, in such manner as the Board of Education shall
prescribe.
2. A resolve to authorize the printing, in pamphlet form, under
the supervision of the Board of Education, of the communications
above mentioned, on the subject of drawing, or of such portions of
them as may be deemed advisable, for the use of the Legislature, and
for distribution by said Board of Education.
The action recommended fell far short of that contemplated
by the petitioners ; nevertheless, it was a step in the right
THE ACT OF MAY, 1870.
15
direction. The Legislature followed the recommendation, and
in May, 1870, approved —
An Act relating to Free Instruction in Drawing.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
Section 1. The first section of chapter thirty-eight of the General
Statutes is hereby amended so as to include drawing among the
branches of learning which are by said section required to be taught
in the public schools.
Section 2. Any city or town may, and every city or town having
more than ten thousand inhabitants shall, annually make provision
for giving free instruction in industrial or mechanical drawing to
persons over fifteen years of age, either in day or evening schools,
under the direction of the school committee.
Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Ap-
proved May 16, 1870.
The Coming of Mr. Walter Smith.
Upon the passage of this act the Boston school committee,
then composed of six members from each of the sixteen wards
of the city, appointed a special committee on drawing, which
presented a report in July, 1870. From this report it appears
that upon April 12, less than one month after the passage of
this act, the Boston committee had ordered "that one hour
each week be devoted to drawing in the grammar and primary
schools," and that a sub-committee had been appointed to con-
sider the subject of establishing industrial schools. The report
of this special committee on drawing is especially valuable as
a record of the situation at the time : —
There was a general feeling among the teachers that drawing was
simply an accomplishment for those whose leisure might be amused
by its exercise, and that the large majority of the children in their
charge would be better off without it. . . . In some schools the
routine of taking out the [drawing] books, 1 allowing the children
to play with pencil and paper for half an hour, and then putting
away the result, often without examination, was virtuously per-
formed. ... In the high school Mr. Henry Hitchings . . . was
doing a capital work, but mostly on raw material. ... In the girls'
high and normal school . . . Mr. William N. Bartholomew . . . gave
1 "In the grammar schools of the city proper Bartholomew's series of drawing books
was ordered by the rules and regulations." (Report special committee on drawing.)
16
THE CALL OF WALTER SMITH.
his whole time very successfully to the work. In the Roxbury High
School Mr. B. F. Nutting was instructor, and Miss Mercy A. Bailey
had charge of the higher grade Dorchester schools. In the Boston
primary schools the" Boston slate " was used as an amusement rather
than for instruction, and in Roxbury and Dorchester primary schools
no system was used.
The committee affirmed " that there was nowhere any system
from the primary to the high schools ; " that in the three sec-
tions of the city different methods were in vogue in the inter-
mediate and upper schools ; " and that "the work of instruction
must be done, if at all, by the regular teachers, under such
general superintendence as would be required." The commit-
tee, " thinking that the proper education of the teachers might
require more time than the special instructors could give," con-
sulted Mr. Charles C. Perkins, whose interest in art education
and reputation in all art matters and familiarity with the art
schools of Europe gave special w r eight to his opinions. Mr.
Perkins, in a letter dated Newport, Sept. 6, 1870, confirmed
the judgment of the committee that " The first object is to have
the teachers taught by a thoroughly well-educated master,"
and suggested the employment of a graduate of the normal
school at South Kensington as director of drawing for the city.
The committee approved Mr. Perkins's suggestion, and sub-
mitted to the school board the following orders, which were
passed : —
Ordered, That the committee on drawing be authorized to employ
a suitable teacher from the South Kensington Art School, as normal
instructor in this city, at a salary not exceeding £500 per year.
Ordered, That the committee on drawing be authorized to establish
three evening schools for drawing, "in such rooms as may be fur-
nished for the purpose, the schools to be open at least two evenings
a week from November 1 to May 1, under such regulations as the
committee may propose."
Hon. Joseph White, secretary of the State Board of Educa-
tion, embodies these orders in his report for that year, 1 and
adds a statement taken from the " Boston Journal " of Jan. 17,
1871, " showing in w r hat manner and with what success these
orders have been carried into execution." From that article
1 The thirty-fourth, page 147.
MR. WHITE'S REPORT, 1870.
17
it appears that at that time Mr. Walter Smith, art master in
charge of the school at Leeds, England, had already been
engaged by the Boston committee. 1 Mr. White sets forth at
length the requirements of the act of the Legislature and the
needs of the State, and concludes his report with this recom-
mendation : —
Lastly, it is proposed, if the Legislature grant the means and the
right man can be secured, to send a thoroughly instructed agent into
every section of the Commonwealth, whose special business it will be
to explain this subject in all its relations, more fully than can be done
by the written treatise, to give advice and instruction in respect to
the best methods of organizing classes and of teaching.
Mr. White's report for the following year records the sub-
sequent action of both the Legislature and the State Board of
Education : 2 —
At the last session the Legislature, at the request of the Board,
made an appropriation from the income of the school fund of a sum
not exceeding ten thousand dollars, in addition to the amount appro-
priated for the salary of Mr. Phipps, the general agent, to be ex-
pended for the salaries and expenses of such special agents as the
Board might employ.
The object of this appropriation was twofold : —
First, to enable the Board to secure, if practicable, the services of
some competent agent to give aid and direction in a more systematic
and thorough course of art instruction in the normal schools ; to
visit the cities and towns required by the law of 1870 to maintain
classes for the instruction in mechanical drawing ; to give informa-
tion and assistance to school committees in the formation of such
classes, and the arrangement of suitable courses of instruction in
them ; and, lastly, to devise and aid in giving effect to some practical
method for the education of teachers in drawing, who shall be capable
of giving instruction in the special schools, and also in the common
schools.
* 'Another statement is to be found in Mr. Smith's report to the Boston committee,
1880. Therein he says that he received notification of his nomination to the position
by the London authorities in October, 1870; came to Boston in May, 1871, to look over
the ground; declined the position May 25, and was about to return home, when he
was requested to wait until after a meeting of the State Board of Education, at which
meeting he was offered the position of agent for the promotion of industrial drawing.
He was officially notified of the joint appointment by city and State, and accepted it
June 1, 1871.
2 The thirty-fifth report, page 108, etc.
18
MR. SMITH'S FIRST DUTIES.
Early in the year the sub-committee, to whom the school committee
of Boston had committed the subject of art education, opened a cor-
respondence with gentlemen in England, with the object of procur-
ing a gentleman having the requisite qualifications to organize classes
and conduct the department of drawing in the Boston schools, on the
same general plan that music is so successfully taught in them.
The correspondence resulted in an invitation to Walter Smith, Esq.,
the head master of the School of Art in Leeds, to accept the position.
In June last Mr. Smith visited this country, with the view of examin-
ing the ground personally, before deciding the question of removal.
Mr. Smith brought the most ample proofs, not only of distinguished
ability as an educator in his favorite department, but also of having
been equally distinguished for his successful endeavors in organizing
schools of art in numerous cities in England, a branch of service
second in importance to no other with us.
After a full conference with Mr. Smith by the executive committee
of the Board, in which he fully explained his views as to the best
methods of organizing and carrying forward the work in hand, the
committee were satisfied of the expediency of procuring his services
for the Commonwealth for such portion of his time as should be
agreed upon with the Boston committee.
The agreement was made, subject to the approval of the Board,
to pay two-fifths of Mr. Smith's salary, and his actual travelling ex-
penses, for a like proportion of his time to be spent in the service
of the Commonwealth.
Having accepted the joint service thus tendered to him, Mr. Smith
returned to England and made immediate dispositions for his final
departure. He was also charged with the duty of procuring such
models of art, drawings, casts, etc., as would be needed for use in
his visits to the cities and towns and in the normal schools. For this
purpose he was authorized to expend five hundred dollars, which was
appropriated by the Board from the income of the Todd Fund.
Having procured by purchase, and by the gift of generous friends
of art culture in England, a valuable collection of models, etc.,
suited to his purpose, Mr. Smith returned to Massachusetts early
in the autumn and commenced his work. He gave interesting lect-
ures and teaching exercises in the teachers' institutes, and has since
been engaged in visiting and giving instruction in those cities and
towns required by the statute of 1870 to maintain adult classes in
mechanical drawing. In this service he is greatly aided by the collec-
tion of models above named. These have been labeled and catalogued,
and, to secure safety and dispatch in their transportation and arrange-
ment for use, are placed under the charge of a curator, who is a com-
MR. SMITH'S FIRST ADDRESSES.
19
petent teacher of drawing, and in this way also does good service in
supplementing the labors of Mr. Smith.
At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Teachers' Association,
in October last, Mr. Smith delivered a very interesting and valuable
address on " Art Education, and the teaching of Drawing in the
Public Schools." This address was listened to with profound interest
by a large body of the leading teachers from every section of the
Commonwealth, and was published in the "Massachusetts Teacher"
for November.
In November a circular was issued by the secretary of the Board,
and sent to the school committee of each town and city in the Com-
monwealth announcing the entrance of Mr. Smith upon his duties as
State director of art education, and giving information as to his
methods of procedure, and the means of securing his personal aid
and advice in all matters pertaining to his department.
It has given me great pleasure to learn that the teachiug exercises
and more popular lectures of the art director are everywhere received
with a high degree of approbation. New interest is awakened, and
large numbers are flocking to the classes wherever they are estab-
lished. Flourishing classes have been formed in all but two or three
of the towns and cities which are required by law to establish them.
The chief obstacle in the way of forming these classes lies in the
difficulty of procuring competent teachers. So fast as this obstacle
can be removed, I see no good reason why the law should not be ex-
tended in its scope so as to embrace all our towns having more than
five thousand inhabitants. In addition to the work already alluded
to, the "objective point" of the efforts of the Board and of the art
director will doubtless be the preparation, as rapidly as possible, of
competent teachers, both for the public schools and for the special
classes. To this end it will be the duty of Mr. Smith, as soon as he
can be released from the more immediate calls of the towns while
the evening classes are in session, to spend as much effort as possible
in the normal schools, with the view of giving the utmost efficiency
to the instruction in drawing given in them ; for on these schools we
must mainly rely for efficient aid in its general introduction as a
branch of study into the common schools.
Something can be done, as heretofore, in the teachers' institutes.
Still more, however, might be expected from special normal classes,
to be opened at central points, at such periods of the year as would
best accommodate the teachers of the vicinity. A special appropria-
tion, to be used by the Board in maintaining such classes to a limited
extent for the purpose of experiments, at least, would be of signal
advantage.
20 THE PROBLEM OF NORMAL INSTRUCTION.
The Problem of Training Teachers.
As Mr. White suggests in the foregoing extract, the chief
problem of the time was the training of competent teachers.
Mr. A. P. Marble, superintendent of schools in Worcester,
attempted to solve the problem by establishing special normal
classes, and to that end issued this circular : —
Teachers' Class.
There is an urgent demand for teachers who are qualified to take
charge of the evening classes in free-hand and industrial drawing,
required by law in the large towns of this State.
Letters from nearly all the superintendents of public instruction in
these towns state that the experience of the past winter indicates the
necessity for providing at once some normal instruction for such
persons as have some skill in drawing, who would be glad to fit them-
selves for this special work. Such a course of instruction is also a
good training for all teachers in public schools.
Arrangements have been made to organize a class for a course of
thirty lessons, provided a sufficient number apply, at the rooms of
the Worcester Free Institute, the use of which has been generously
offered by the trustees, free of charge. The conditions under which
the class will be opened are the following, viz . : —
1. The number in the class shall not be less than thirty.
2. Each pupil must have some knowledge of the subject at the
outset.
3. The number of lessons will be thirty, and will be essentially a
repetition of the course given in this city last winter.
4. The lessons will be given twice a day for the first five days in
the week, beginning early in July ; and the hours will be so arranged
that residents in neighboring towns can come and return daily by
cars.
5. The instruction will be given by members of the faculty of the
Free Institute.
6. The main object of the course will be to teach ladies and gentle-
men, who can draw, how to teach drawing.
7. The fee for the course will be ten dollars, payable in advance.
8. Applications must be made before the twentieth of June.
9. Full particulars in regard to this class will be given as soon as
the question of its foundation is settled.
Board can be obtained in Worcester at one dollar a day.
A class for laboratory practice will • also be formed at the same
place, under the same conditions as to time, instruction, number and
INCEPTION OF THE NORMAL ART SCHOOL. 21
expense. Any person who has some knowledge of elementary chem-
istry may join this class. The exercises will be so arranged that
those who wish may join both classes.
Applications for either class are to be sent to
A. P. Marble,
Superintendent Public Instruction,
Worcester, Mass.
In Boston the upper floor of the Appleton Street primary
school was converted into a drawing class room. Every
teacher in the city was required there to receive once a fort-
night a lesson from Mr. Smith. The special instructors, who
were also local supervisors, met Mr. Smith every Wednesday,
to receive directions and instructions. 1 This the drawing com-
mittee pronounced to be "the most important step taken by
the city of Boston in the art education of the public schools." 2
The State Normal Art School.
Mr. Philbrick was not wholly satisfied with these methods.
To his mind it appeared that a State which required instruction
in drawing in all its schools should itself make provision for
the training of teachers. He therefore began the agitation for
establishing a State Normal Art School. At his suggestion,
no doubt, " a deputation of the State Board of Education had
an interview with the committee of the Legislature, on the
provision of a State Normal Art School, in the spring of 1872.
The arguments of members of the Board and its active officials
were listened to with great patience by the committee, and a
request was made that a sum of ten thousand dollars per an-
num should be voted to support such a school." 3 Nothing
came of it, however, except a strong recommendation in Mr.
Smith's first annual report that such a school be immediately
established.
Mr. Smith said : —
I would propose that the State Board of Education again ask for
an appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars per annum, to rent and
fit up premises and conduct normal art classes, to be free to every
1 Report of drawing committee, Boston, 1871.
3 Report of drawing committee, Boston, 1872.
a Thirty-sixth report, Board of Education, page 32.
22
MR. SMITH ADVOCATES THE SCHOOL.
teacher of drawing in the State who will attend them regularly, and
open at a reasonable fee to all others ; and that the best men in the
several departments of art education be secured to give courses of
lectures and courses of lessons to the students who seek instruction
in the school ; and that the State Board be empowered to examine
students and grant certificates or diplomas of competency to teach
drawing to all students who satisfy the examiners.
That would be economic action, and is practically the only way to
provide teachers.
Both the English and French governments had to confess the want of
success in all their schemes of art education until each had established
a training-school for teachers ; since which time the attention of the
whole world has been drawn to the remarkable progress made in
design and art manufactures in both countries, — due to the success
resulting from the labors of competent teachers more than to any
other cause.
We cannot do more than play with this subject of art education,
until we provide ourselves with the tools with which to work at it,
and then nothing can hinder the progress which will be made.
I present this proposal to the Board as the one important matter
requiring action during the present session of the Legislature, with
the concluding remark that it is quite impossible to overestimate the
practical importance of the proposal.
Mr. Smith adds : —
It may be possible that, should the State establish such a school as
I have proposed, the city might find it the most economic proceeding
to hire the occasional use of it for the instruction of its teachers, and
thus the cost to the State might be shared. This co-operation is
recommended in the last report of the drawing committee of the city
of Boston. 1
In the report of Mr. White, secretary of the State Board
of Education, the proposition of Mr. Smith is heartily sec-
onded : 2 —
I beg to call especial attention to that part of the report which
speaks of the attempt made last winter by the committee of the Board
to confer with the Legislature to procure an appropriation for the
opening of a State Normal Art School for the education of teachers,
and which urges a renewal of the application to the present Legis-
1 Thirty-sixth report, Board of Education, page 33.
a Ibid., page 168.
MR. WHITE ADVOCATES THE SCHOOL.
23
lature. This is a matter of too great importance to be treated with
indifference and neglect. The only considerable obstacle in the way
of a full adoption of drawing as a branch of daily instruction in every
school in the Commonwealth is found in the want of ability to teach
it. Hence the pressing necessity of a central normal school, to which
teachers and persons aiming to become teachers can freely resort for
special instruction in this branch.
A bill was drawn and warmly advocated by Mr. Chas. C.
Perkins, Dr. A. A. Miner, Mr. John D. Philbrick and others,
who did a large amount of personal work at the State House,
especially among the rural members, from whom some opposi-
tion was expected. So successful were these men that when
the matter came up for action no opponents to the bill appeared,
and it was passed without important modifications and without
a dissenting vote. The act was as follows : —
Resolved, That there be allowed and paid out of the treasury the
sum of seventy-five hundred dollars, for the expense of a state normal
art school, the same to be expended under the direction of the board
of education. [Approved June 6, 1873.'] And further —
Resolved, That the sergeant-at-arms, with the consent and approval
of the commissioners on the state house, be authorized to assign the
rooms on the third floor of the house number thirty-three Pemberton
square to the board of education, for the use of the state normal art
school. [Approved June 11, 1873.]
In pursuance of this provision, the Board of Education, at a
meeting in December, 1873, appointed a committee " to organ-
ize and put into operation, and take charge of" such a school.
Mr. Smith was appointed director. His account of the organi-
zation and conduct of the school may be found in the thirty-
seventh report of the Board.
A building at 33 Pemberton Square, controlled by the State
for office purposes, contained attic rooms which were assigned
to the new institution. Preparations were made to accommodate
thirty-five students. Notice of the proposed opening of the
school was given in the newspapers of Springfield, Worcester,
Lowell, New Bedford and Boston, and upon Nov. 11, 1873,
when the school opened, one hundred seven persons presented
themselves for admission. Of these, seventy had passed sue-
24 NORMAL ART SCHOOL IS ESTABLISHED.
cessfully a preliminary examination held November 6, and
thirty-seven others a subsequent examination, so that all who
entered were approved students. Sixty-eight of them were
women and thirty-nine were men. They came from twenty-
nine different cities and towns.
By an arrangement which permitted three daily sessions and
a corresponding subdivision of students, all were accommo-
dated. Mr. Smith, the director, had two assistants, Mr. George
H. Bartlett, of the London School of Design, and Miss Mary
Carter, art mistress, South Kensington. There were besides
four " lecturers," Prof. Win. R. Ware, Prof. C. D. Bray, Prof.
Lucas Baker and Prof. S. Edward Warren.
Mr. Smith had travelled in Europe, and was familiar with
continental art schools, as his 4 'Art Education," published by
Osgood in 1872, gives abundant evidence ; hence the course
of study as first outlined was no narrow course, copied from
South Kensington, but a course w T hich contained the best ele-
ments then to be found in the courses of the art schools of
Belgium, France and Germany. The English influence was
dominant only in matters of technique ; in that, South Ken-
sington was the ideal. 1
A glimpse of the school as it appeared in these days of its
infancy is to be had through a paragraph in the historical sketch
by Miss Deristhe L. Hoyt, published in 1898 by the Alumni
Association : —
A great spirit of enthusiasm was felt by all the pupils. They
endured without complaint, even with gladness, the limited spaces
allotted them, closely filled the studios, overflowed the attic lecture
room and crowded the staircase leading to it as far as the voice of the
lecturer could reach, and rejoiced with thankfulness in the long-coveted
opportunities for laying a broad and firm foundation for art study
which the Commonwealth had bestowed upon them.
The school grew rapidly. The second year Mr. William
Briggs, an Englishman who had come to this country with
Mr. Smith, and Miss Deristhe L. Hoyt, the first American to
graduate from South Kensington, were appointed as additional
instructors, and additional rooms were secured at No. 24 Pem-
berton Square. Both the rooms at No. 33 and at No. 24 soon
1 Authority, Mr. G. H. Bartlett, first assistant, now principal of the school.
EARLY INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOL. 25
proved to be inadequate, and the Board of Education leased for
a term of five years ten rooms in a block at No. 28 School
Street. Mr. Otto Fuchs and Miss Grace Carter were added to
the corps of instructors.
In 1876, at the time of the Centennial at Philadelphia, but
one student, Mr. Arthur C. Patten, had completed the entire
four years' course, — a person of exceptional ability, he had
done four years' work in three ; and his work, supplemented
by that of other students, made possible the exhibition for the
first time of the entire course as outlined by Mr. Smith. " The
school gained hearty recognition and appreciation at the Cen-
tennial, where it furnished the first systematic course of art
instruction ever shown in the United States." 1 The French
Imperial Commission sent to the Philadelphia Exposition for
the purpose of examining and reporting upon the subject of
education as there displayed, after a most searching and ex-
haustive inquiry reported officially that "As soon as the
State Normal Art School shall have had time to bear fruit,
we can predict to the industrial art of Massachusetts new in-
crease and a brilliant future." 2
The influence of the school began to be felt throughout Mas-
sachusetts and beyond in other States of the Union. In 1879
appeared in "Harper's Monthly" an article on "The Art
Institutions of the Country," in which the scope and influence
of the school were summarized as follows : —
The Massachusetts Normal Art School, while devoted chiefly to
the advancement of industrial art, has also, by its example, greatly
assisted the growth of art feeling in the popular mind. ... It may
he conceded, then, that the founding of the Massachusetts Normal
Art School was not only a strong indication of a growing demand,
but that it has also been a very powerful agent in the diffusion of
art knowledge in the United States.
In the autumn of 1880 the school was transferred to the
"Deacon House," Washington Street. The teaching force
then included ten instructors : Mr. Smith, Mr. Bartlett, Miss
Mary E. Carter, Mr. Briggs, Miss Hoyt, Mr. Fuchs, Mr. Arthur
1 Historical sketch, Hoyt, page 10.
3 Quoted by Mr. Smith in a graded program of instruction in drawing, published in
1880.
26
MR. SMITH RETURNS TO ENGLAND.
C. Patten, Mr. W. F. Brackett, Mr. Robert C. Vonnoh, and Mr.
Charles M. Carter who had charge of the normal work for
public school teachers. During this year began the great con-
troversy between Mr. Smith and the publishers of his drawing
books, the history of which need not be here reviewed. It is
sufficient to record that Mr. Smith ceased to use the books in
the city of Boston, and that for one reason or another he failed
to be re-elected the following year as director of drawing. In
the summer of 1882 he severed his connection with the State
Normal Art School, and shortly returned to England.
The Work of Mr. Walter Smith.
The length of the period during which Mr. Smith served the
city and the State was practically ten years. During these
years he accomplished a work which can scarcely be overesti-
mated. For the city of Boston the results were summarized
as follows, by Mr. John D. Philbrick in 1874, after only three
years of service : —
1. A standing committee on drawing.
2. Teaching staff : general supervisor ; seven special instructors,
employed as teachers in the high schools, and local supervisors of
drawing in the grammar and primary schools ; all the regular teachers
in the latter schools, and a part of the teachers in the former, quali-
fied to instruct their own classes ; and eleven special teachers employed
in the evening industrial drawing schools.
3. Programs adapted to all classes and grades of pupils, com-
prising the appropriate subjects, duly arranged and co-ordinated.
4. Text-books, copies and models adapted to the courses of in-
struction laid down in the programs.
5. A completely organized system of evening industrial drawing
schools, with accommodations and apparatus, regulations and in-
structors. Average number taught last winter, 538.
6. Regularly organized normal drawing classes, held on Wednesday
and Saturday afternoons, where the special teachers give instruction
to the regular teachers, of all grades, in drawing and the art of
teaching it.
7. Efficient instruction actually given in all grades of our schools,
from the lowest primary class to the highest in the high schools ;
but further time is needed to bring it up to the standard of excellence
aimed at.
8. Four annual exhibitions of drawing have been held, each show-
ing marked progress from year to year.
/
SUMMARY OF MR. SMITH'S WORK. 27
There was a continual and healthy growth along these lines
for nearly a decade.
For the State he brought about a public interest in art edu-
cation of the most lively sort. He was instrumental in estab-
lishing evening drawing classes in twenty cities. He organized
and directed successfully the State Normal Art School, and
managed ten State exhibitions of drawing. He formulated
courses of instruction for the State normal schools and for the
public schools, and, through institute addresses, printed docu-
ments and a travelling museum, educated the teachers of the
State to such a degree that drawing took its place in a majority
of the schools side by side with the time-honored reading, writ-
ing and arithmetic.
Nor is this all. Through his published works, his cards,
drawing books, teachers' manuals and sets of models he laid
the foundation and furnished the original * ' stock in trade " for
one of the most prosperous publishing houses in the State, — a
house which has since been a most potent agency in extending
instruction in drawing throughout the United States.
Mr. Smith had his defects, no doubt, but, "In view of what
ambitious or conceited persons, who first learned from Walter
Smith 'how to do it,' may have said, or may hereafter say, in
regard to the importance and character of his work," the follow-
ing reflections of Col. I. Edwards Clarke are worth repeating : —
It will ill become those who have profited by his labors, or who reap
with joy the harvest he sowed in pain, to carp at his methods or to
decry the excellence of his system. That, building on his firm foun-
dations, they may rear more splendid superstructures, is doubtless
true ; and the old figure of the ability of the dwarf, when standing on
the shoulders of the giant, to see farther than the giant himself, also
remains true ; but let not the dwarf, therefore, imagine himself a giant,
or underrate the importance of the position he could not have attained
unaided ; lest thereby he may invite unpleasant attention to his own
pigmy stature and individual insignificance ! 1
The Period or Subdivision.
"Upon the death of Alexander his kingdom was divided
among his generals." The directorship of the Normal Art
School was given to Mr. Otto Fuchs, — one of the instructors ;
1 American Education in Fine and Industrial Art, page 205=
28
MR. SMITH'S SUCCESSORS.
the direction of drawing in the Boston schools fell to Mr. Henry
Hitchings, one of Mr. Smith's most competent special teachers ;
and the promotion of drawing, under the auspices of the State
Board, was given to Mr. Charles M. Carter, then instructor in
normal methods at the Art School.
Mr. Fuchs held the office of acting principal of the Art School
for one year, and was then elected director of the Maryland
Institute, Baltimore ; whereupon Mr. George H. Bartlett, who
had been connected with the school from its foundation as Mr.
Smith's first assistant, was elected principal.
Mr. Carter, after a brief term of service, resigned, on account
of ill health. Miss M. Louise Field became instructor in nor-
mal methods at the Art School, and Mr. Henry T. Bailey was
elected agent for the promotion of industrial drawing.
After several years a change occurred in the administration
of affairs in the Boston school board, and Mr. James Frederick
Hopkins became director of drawing in the day schools, while
Mr. Hitchings was retained as director of evening drawing
schools.
Thus five distinct offices were created, and five persons now
carry on the work inaugurated and sustained for ten years by
one man.
MR. BARTLETT'S WORK.
29
IL The Years of Enrichment, \ 883-1900.
Under State Direction.
Growth of the State Normal Art School.
In the circular of the school for 1881-82, the last containing
the name of Mr. Smith, four grades of certificates are an-
nounced : for ability to teach in primary and intermediate
grades, in grammar grades, in high and normal schools, and in
art and technical schools. The course required nothing directly
from nature in Class A except a bit of foliage in pencil. In Class
B flowers and fruit were painted from nature, one drawing was
required " from the living model " and one 44 head from nature "
in water color. In Class D pupils were required to make one
study from life of 44 the whole figure," and to model a 44 por-
trait head from nature." Twenty -four 4 4 certificate drawings"
were required in Class A, fourteen in B, fifteen in C and seven-
teen in D.
Mr. George H. Bartlett began his work as principal Sept. 7,
1883. His plans for broadening and enriching the courses
could not, for various reasons, be put into immediate effect.
For example, he wished to introduce study from the nude.
This was vigorously opposed by members of the State Board
of Education and others, and the courses remained substantially
unchanged for several years.; hence arose the criticism, not
without reason, that the courses were mechanical and the school
unprogressive. Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D., at this time chair-
man of the Board of Visitors, was untiring in his efforts to raise
the standard of the school. In 1884 a preparatory class was
established, 44 for the benefit of those persons who had not had
the training necessary to qualify them for admission to Class
A." The number of 44 certificate works" was gradually re-
duced, while the required quality was raised. In 1887 the
number required was as follows : A, eighteen ; B, fourteen ; C,
thirteen ; D, thirteen, — a reduction of nearly twenty per cent,
in four years. The number of certificates was reduced to two,
30 HELPFUL SERVICE OF DR. MIXER.
one for the completion of classes A and C, the other for the
completion of classes A, B and D.
In 1884 a plan for systematic normal instruction and practice
was introduced, and also a special elective course in the art
industries and reproducing arts. In February, 1887, the school
was transferred to the new building erected by the State at the
corner of Exeter and Xewbury streets, at a cost of $85,000, and
that same year two important changes were made in the organi-
zation. A special Public School Class was formed. To this
class only such pupils were admitted as had attained a rank
equivalent to that of high school graduates in the literary
branches, and who were willing to devote two full years to
preparation for teaching drawing in the public elementary
schools. By an arrangement with the Prince School, children
came to the Art School, out of school hours, as a practice class
for these normal art students. The other important advance
was the establishment of a life class for the study of the human
figure, under Mr. F. H. Tompkins, an artist of recognized
standing.
In 1889 the instruction along mechanical and architectural
lines was greatly strengthened by the appointment of three new
instructors, Mr. George Jepson, Mr. Henry H. Kendall and
Mr. John L. Frisbee. The ''life class," under Mr. A. H.
Munsell recently returned from an extended course of study
in Europe, came to be known as the " class for the figure and
its industrial application." This year Mrs. Kate Gannett
Wells was appointed to the Board, and became at once inti-
mately associated with Dr. Miner in forwarding the interests
of the school. In 1891 the instruction along artistic lines was
strengthened by the appointment of Mr. E. W. D. Hamilton,
a graduate of the school, who had spent several years of study
abroad and had made an enviable reputation as an artist of
unusual promise.
In 1893, after twenty-five years of active service, Rev. Dr.
Miner retired from the Board. A resolution of the State Board
of Education, adopted June 1, 1893, is here given in full : —
Resolved, That, on the retirement of Dr. A. A. Miner from the
State Board of Education, after twenty-five years of active service,
the longest term ever held by any one member of the Board, the Board
desires to put on record its appreciation of the valuable aid Dr. Miner
HELPFULNESS OF MRS. WELLS.
31
has rendered to the cause of education. As chairman of the Normal
Art School almost from its inception, Dr. Miner has skilfully carried
it through the difficulties which beset its early existence, guiding its
progress into the broad domain of art, especially that of industrial
art. As a visitor at the normal school, Framingham, he has always
shown the same zeal and wisdom which have marked his service to
the Normal Art School. In his personal relations with the Board of
Education Dr. Miner has been uniformly courteous and just ; inter-
ested in the widest applications of education, seldom missing a Board
meeting throughout his long service.
This resolution, though cordially appreciative, hardly sug-
gests the wealth of service rendered the school and the cause
of art education by this wise and staunch friend. His influence
upon the hundreds of art students who knew him and who
listened to his inspiring addresses can never be measured or
adequately recorded.
Mrs. Wells became chairman of the Board of Visitors in
1893. Since that date the changes in the school have been
many and salutary. A basement room was furnished in 1894 with
a speed and engine lathe, benches and tools for w ood working,
and an electric motor, that the theoretical work of Class C
might be supplemented by actual practice. That same year
the standard for admission to the Public School Class was
raised. Only students who had completed the work of classes
A and B were admitted. The following year, through the in-
valuable co-operation of Mr. Geo. H. Conley, supervisor of
public schools, Boston, and newly appointed a member of the
Board of Visitors to the Normal Art School, arrangements were
perfected whereby it became possible for the students to enter
the Boston schools for the purpose of observation and practice.
The following regulations, for governing the students of the Massa-
chusetts Normal Art School when they are admitted to the public
schools of Boston for the purposes of observation and practice, are
issued in accordance with instructions given by the committee on
drawing in 1895 : —
1. While it is expected that the relation of the normal art student
to the public school teacher will result in benefit to the former as well
as to the latter, still, the interests of the public school children are
to be held always paramount, and no arrangements are to be made
which shall in any degree impair them.
32
HELPFULNESS OF MR. CONLEY.
2. All teaching undertaken by normal art students in any public
school shall be under the direction and control of the principal of the
school or of the regular teacher, and the latter shall always be present ;
it shall not depart from the authorized course of study in drawing,
nor shall it cause any disturbance or require any rearrangement of the
daily program of work in the class or in the school.
3. The visits of the normal art students shall be limited to the
schools designated from time to time by the superintendent of public
schools.
Edwin P. Seaver,
Superintendent of Public Schools.
Boston, Nov. 17, 1897.
Special reference to the working of this system of normal
training was made by Mr. Conley in his report to the superin-
tendent of schools, Boston, in March, 1898. The section is
here given in full : —
Normal Art School Students.
At the request of the Board of Visitors of the State Normal Art
School, the committee on drawing two years ago granted permission
to the students of the senior class of that school to enter the primary
and grammar schools of the city for the purposes of observation and
practice. The purpose of the Normal Art School is to train teachers
of drawing for the public schools of the State. The instruction and
courses it provides enable the students to acquire the technical
knowledge and skill essential for success in this work, together with
a good knowledge of the best methods of teaching, as well as a good
degree of skill in applying these methods to classes of children in all
grades of the public schools.
Few of the regular teachers of the primary and grammar schools
have made special preparation for teaching drawing, and many of
them admit their inability to meet the requirements of the new course
of study in drawing ; therefore the assistance that the Normal Art
School students have been able to give by way of suggestion and
example has been of great value to several of these teachers. The
number of schools to which the art students were originally assigned
has been increased in consequence of the requests made for their
services. Indeed, the demand for the art students was largely in
excess of the number to be supplied. In all there are now about
thirty students scattered over the city observing and teaching in the
schools. In some of the schools they have given lessons in every
grade, and in others they have confined their practice work to a few
classes. Something of the character of their work may be gathered
MR. CONLEY'S REPORT.
33
from a brief description of what has been done in part in one of the
schools of the sixth division.
In this school, work was begun in October. Nature supplied the
objects, and sprays and grasses were drawn in a broad way with
brush and ink. Trees near the school-house were sketched, and
objects and views seen through the school-room windows were made
the subjects of some of the lessons. Pose-drawing was undertaken,
and with gratifying results, the pupils of the school serving as models.
As a rule, the pupils greatly enjoy this kind of work, which is a step
forward in the public schools, this being the first year of its adoption
generally in our schools. It is found to be an excellent method of
teaching the relation of parts to the whole and of each part to every
other part of an object. Proportion, the principle which is involved
in every drawing, with the figure is clearly and forcibly illustrated.
Sketching the living figure also helps to eliminate the hard, wiry lines
so characteristic of drawing in school work. To show the pupils
what was wanted, drawings and charcoal sketches by good artists
were exhibited, and sketches and drawings were freely executed by
the student on the board before the eyes of the pupils.
The laws of appearance were unconsciously studied by the pupils
in observing and noting the appearance of houses, car tracks and
lamp posts along the streets, under varying conditions. Experiments
were then made in the school-room, and models were used till the
models could be drawn in any position. Sketches were then made
of a corner of a house and other objects out of school which involved
the application of these laws of appearance, or principles of per-
spective, as they are called.
Word-pictures were used to give the imagination play and afford
opportunity for the expression of individuality; as, for instance, a
stanza or a few lines describing a bit of scenery were written on the
board, and the pupils told to draw the scene which the lines described.
Great interest was always manifested in these exercises, every pupil
trying to interpret the picture formed in his mind from reading the
description given. Bryant, Whittier and Longfellow were made to
contribute largely to this feature of the work.
The study of pictures was made a prominent and profitable part of
the instruction. Representations of the works of famous artists were
used, reproductions of celebrated paintings such as the Sistine, Bor-
denhausen and the Madonna of the Chair were given the pupils to
take home and study, and something about the lives and achievements
of the artists was learned. Later on, compositions upon the subjects
studied were required. In this way language and drawing were com-
bined. The picture study also led up to the grouping of objects, the
pupils soon learniug that a pleasing group depends upon the unity
34
SUCCESS OF PUPIL TEACHERS.
and variety in the arrangement of suitable objects related to each
other.
There were interspersed at intervals during the year lessons upon
the history of ornament. The highly civilized peoples and countries
of ancient times, with their important architectural achievements and
the character of their art, were described. Many good illustrations
of the different schools of ornament were shown the pupils, and
specimens noted which could be found near at hand ; as, for instance,
the gateway of the old Granary Burying Ground or the Greek border
on the tablecloth at home. Language, history and geography were
connected with the drawing throughout the year, and the study of
these subjects made more attractive through the added interest which
the study of drawing presented in this way produced. There have
been lessons in color and harmony of colors ; and all the subjects that
the course of study requires have been presented in an interesting,
skilful and practical way.
All of the Normal Art School students are, I believe, rendering
good service for the privilege afforded them of visiting the schools.
Many of them, I am assured, have succeeded in inspiring a deeper
and more general interest in the study of drawing in the classes ; and
some, I know, have, by the broad and intelligent manner in which
they have presented the subject, succeeded in rendering material aid
in placing drawing in its right relations with the other studies of the
schools. All the teachers whom the students have assisted commend
their work, and several have written in the strongest terms of praise
of the quality of the instruction given. One teacher writes: "The
instruction given by our normal art student has been a source of
inspiration and pleasure to the teachers of our school and a delight
to the children ; " and the many statements of similar import which
have been received go to prove that the presence of these young
artist teachers in the schools is not only welcomed but highly prized
by the teachers. The fresh enthusiasm and spirit they bring to the
school-room are invigorating and helpful to teachers and classes alike.
In the main they have shown a proficiency and usefulness beyond
what was looked for, and have contributed more to the good of the
schools than was expected.
In accordance with the regulations imposed when these students
were admitted to the schools of the city, all the teaching has been
undertaken under the direction and control of the principal of the
school, with the regular teacher of the class always present; the
authorized course of study in drawing has been followed ; there has
been no disturbance caused, nor has any rearrangement been required,
in the daily program of the classes.
Already two of last year's group of observers have been appointed
MR. BARTLETT'S VIGOROUS ADMINISTRATION. 35
regular teachers, and another who has just been certificated is to be
appointed immediately. No more substantial proof of the usefulness
and practical worth of the normal art students can be afforded than
these appointments, which were made as soon as the students became
eligible for positions as teachers in the schools of Boston.
Mrs. Wells has been actively interested in broadening and
enriching the social and intellectual as well as artistic life of
the students, and has been most generous in her helpful and
stimulating benefactions.
Under Mr. Bartlett's direction the courses of instruction have
been recently improved by the addition of blackboard memory
drawing for students of the Public School Class, and lectures
upon art and education by eminent specialists. New courses
in design have been established, under Mr. Vesper George, a
leader in his profession. The faculty has been further strength-
ened by the addition of Mr. Carlson, architect, who made the
additions to the school building in 1898-99 ; Mr. Major, artist ;
and Mr. Dallin, the well-known sculptor. A museum of ap-
plied art is now being established, and other plans are maturing
which will • make the school more effective as the public art
educational centre of the Commonwealth.
The following statistics will give some idea of the helpful
service rendered by this school during the twenty-seven years
of its existence : —
Whole number of students, 1,014
Number of graduates who have received diplomas, . . . 308
Number of students or graduates now teaching in Massachusetts, . 179
Number supervising or teaching in public schools outside the State, 50
Number connected with colleges, academies and schools of art, as
heads of departments, directors or instructors, 69
Number who have become painters, 40
Number who have become sculptors, 4
Number who have become designers, 26
Number who have become illustrators, ...... 15
Number who have become architects, 12
Number who have become draftsmen, 21
Present condition of the school : —
Number of instructors, 15
Number of students, 322
36
NORMAL ART SCHOOL COURSES.
The following page, from the latest circular of the school,
presents in brief the classes and courses of instruction, and
their relations : —
NORMAL ART SCHOOL COURSES AND DIPLOMAS.
Elementary Drawing and Design.
(Class A.)
Geometry and Perspective.
Free-hand Drawing.
Light and Shade.
Historic Ornament.
Botanical Analysis in Color.
Elementary Design.
Construction and Design.
Painting and Decoration.
Sculpture and Design.
(Class C.)
(Class B.)
(Class D.)
i. Descriptive Geometry.
i. Drawing from Antique.
i. Modelling from Ornament.
Building Construction.
Drawing from Life.
Modelling from Antique.
Machine Drawing.
Painting.
Relieved Decoration.
Ship Draughting.
Composition.
Casting.
Anatomy.
Advanced Perspective.
Design in Color.
History of Architecture.
2. Architectural Design.
History of Painting.
History of Sculpture.
Interiors and Furniture.
2. Painting from Life.
2. Modelling from Life.
Shop Work, Wood
and
Costume.
Figure Reliefs.
Metal.
Mural Decoration.
Mechanical
Diploma,
Pedagogy and Supervision.
Teachers' Class.
Teaching Exercises.
Courses of Study.
Graded Illustrative Work.
Supervision.
Free-hand
Diploma.
Teachers* Diploma.
Courses of Instruction.
Class A embraces elementary drawing ; Class B, drawing, painting
and design ; Class C, the constructive arts, design and shop work ;
and Class D, modelling and design. There is also a special class in
applied design. The Public School Class is devoted to methods of
teaching and supervising drawing, with special reference to the public
schools.
I
THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS.
37
Time allotted to the Courses.
The first course requires four years. It embraces the work of
classes A and B and the elementary course of C aud D, followed by
a year in the Public School Class.
The second course requires four years. It embraces the work of
classes A, B and D, with normal instruction from the teachers of
those classes.
The third course requires three years. It embraces the work of
Class A and the elementary aud advanced work of Class C, with
normal instruction from the teachers of those classes.
Students completing the work of Class A may choose one or more
of the courses offered by the school.
Special Class in Applied Design*
Only students who have performed the work required in classes A, B
and D, or A and C, will be eligible to enter this class.
The Slate Normal Schools.
44 In a communication made by the secretary of the Board of
Education to the Legislature, dated March 12, 1838, it was
stated that private munificence had placed at his disposal the
sum of ten thousand dollars, to be expended, under the direc-
tion of the Board of Education, for qualifying teachers for our
common schools, on condition that the Legislature would place
in the hands of the Board an equal sum, to be expended for the
same purpose." 1 On the 19th of April the Legislature author-
ized the appropriation. The Board decided to establish three
schools. One, the first normal school in America, was opened
at Lexington, July, 1839. This school was removed to West
Newton in 1844 and to Frainingham in 1852. A second was
opened at Barre, September, 1839, and removed to Westtield
in 1844. The third was opened at Bridgewater, September,
1840.
From the first, drawing was a required study in these schools.
Mr. Joseph White, the secretary of the Board, in his report
dated February, 1871, said : " Drawing is taught as a part of
the regular course in the normal schools, and it is the purpose
of the Board that it shall be systematically pursued, to such an
extent that no pupil be allowed to graduate who shall not be
1 Tenth annual report of Horace Mann, page 12$.
38
AIM OF NORMAL COURSES.
competent to teach whatever is desirable to be taught in the
common schools." 1
The Salem school was established in 1854, the Worcester
school in 1871, and the others, Fitchburg, Hyannis, Lowell
and North Adams, in 1894.
The courses of instruction in the normal schools at the pres-
ent time vary greatly, because entirely under the control of the
local instructor in drawing, who arranges his outline to meet
the conditions under which he must work. In all cases, how-
ever, the courses are practically two years m length, and include
such topics as are taught in drawing in the primary and gram-
mar schools of the State, with such supplementary topics as
these presuppose for normal instruction. The normal instruc-
tors, with but one exception, have supervision <5r direction of
work in practice or training schools, where they deal directly
with school children of different grades. This serves as a check
upon the tendency, to which every normal teacher is liable, to
become formal and theoretical in method, forgetful of school-
room conditions and the limitations of childhood. The normal
students observe or teach in these or other schools for a portion
of the time, and thus become familiar with the methods of class
instruction in drawing, and with typical average results of such
instruction.
The average amount of time devoted to drawing in the normal
schools is somewhat less than an hour and a half a week, hence
very little time can be devoted to the writing of outlines or to
the study of school programs, or to collateral work along any
line. Several of the normal drawing teachers publish printed
notes for their pupils upon such topics as color, model and
object drawing, study of pictorial art, historic architecture and
ornament. This reduces the amount of required writing to the
minimum, and gives the pupils time for practice in drawing.
A special feature of the normal instruction is illustrative draw-
ing, — drawing in connection with the other studies, and black-
board drawing both in outline and in mass. The purpose in
the normal courses is threefold: (1) culture, — a knowledge
of the best and most beautiful in nature and in art, a broad and
intelligent view of the realm of the arts, a larger and more
abundant life; (2) insight, — a perception of what is worth
1 Thirty-fourth annual report, page 158.
STATE AGENTS FOR DRAWING.
39
attempting under existing conditions in the public schools,
knowledge of children as embryo draftsmen and artists, just
estimates of children's work; (3) power, — ability to use
drawing as a language for expressing truth, and to use it so
well that beauty may appear in the expression.
The statistics of the nine normal schools of the State for the
year 1899 are as follows : —
Name of School.
Number of
Pupils in
Entering C lttss,
September,
1S99.
Number of
those talking
Drawing.
, Total
■Nunib6r in
School.
Total Nam-
Drawing.
Bridgewater,
98
119
278
235
Hyaiinis,
31
30
55
38
Fitchburg,
44
45
103
98
Framingham, ....
84
84
161
142
Lowell,
54
52
127
112
North Adams, ....
37
36
82
72
Salem,
114
114
226
229
Westfield,
68
62
113
71
Worcester,
79
76
201
161
Totals,
609
618 1
1,346
1,158
Percentage of entering class having drawing, 100.
having drawing, 86.
Percentage of all normal pupils
Agents for the Promotion of Industrial Drawing.
An appropriation by the Legislature in 1871 made it possible
for the State Board of Education to employ a special agent,
who should "give aid and direction in a more systematic and
thorough course of art instruction in the normal schools, visit
cities and towns,
committees, . .
. . . give information and assistance to school
. arrange suitable courses of instruction . . .
and aid in giving effect to some practical method for the educa-
tion of teachers. . . ." 2 Mr. Walter Smith was the first agent
of this kind, and, as already stated in this pamphlet, a very
successful one, who served the Board for more than ten vears.
i Including a few special students.
2 Thirty-fifth annual report, page 108.
4<J
WORK OF CHAS. M. CARTER.
During 1881 Mr. Charles M. Carter, a graduate of the Normal
Art School, began to lecture acceptably before teachers' insti-
tutes, and was appointed to give normal lectures at the Normal
Art School. The report of the Board of Visitors for 1881
says: "Beyond his labors in the school, he assists at the
institutes, and supplements their work by visiting such cities
and towns as desire his aid in reviving and extending an inter-
est in industrial drawing. He lectures to teachers, under the
direction and with the co-operation of the local committees,
suggests the best methods of advancing the work, and seeks to
promote a higher estimate of its value." 1
Mr. Carter continued his work as normal instructor and as
lecturer at the institutes during the next three years. In 1885,
however, he was appointed as a regular agent of the Board, for,
' 4 the Board desired distinctly to recognize the importance of
this branch of education, and to take the work of organization
under its immediate charge." 2 Mr. Carter published an outline
of an eight years' course of instruction for primary and gram-
mar schools, which was used at the Normal Art School, in the
teachers' institutes and in many cities and towns as a basis for
instruction. This outline was the first published by the State
which gave in detail the work of each grade below the high
school. Mr. Smith's outline, published ten years before, merely
blocked out in a general way what was to be attempted ; for
instance, the third year primary division read as follows :
" Advancing to the drawing of ornament and objects of histori-
cal character, as Egyptian lotus form, Greek vases, etc., names
to be remembered in connection with forms, and to be drawn
when required from memory." 3
Mr. Carter's course gave a 1 ' General Outline of Method,"
which had a distinctly pedagogical character, and placed draw-
ing upon the same basis with other school studies.
Mr. Carter asked for an indefinite leave of absence, the next
year, on account of ill health, and the office of agent for the
promotion of industrial drawing remained vacant until Septem-
ber, 1887, when Mr. Henry T. Bailey, a full graduate of the
Normal Art School, was appointed.
1 Forty-fifth annual report, page 41. 2 Forty-ninth annual report, page 11.
3 Thirty-eighth annual report, page 54.
WORK OF HENRY T. BAILEY.
41
Mr. Bailey had had experience as a teacher in the evening
drawing schools of the city of Boston, and had been for two
years supervisor of drawing for the city of Lowell. He formu-
lated an illustrated course of instruction for the elementary
schools, based upon the plan outlined by Mr. Carter, and began
at once an aggressive campaign.
His first report presented concisely the condition of the
entire State with reference to industrial drawing. By that
report it appears that in 1888 only one hundred and eighty-one
of the three hundred and fifty-one cities and towns of the State
had regular instruction in drawing in their schools, and that but
forty of these employed a supervisor or teacher of drawing.
Mr. Bailey found drawing to be in many places only nominally
a required study. It consisted largely of copying from the
pages of a drawing book, and was held by many teachers and
school superintendents to be of but little if any educational
value.
Mr. Bailey's policy has been from the beginning that outlined
in his first annual report to the Board : "To harmonize so far
as possible the instruction in those places where drawing is
already taught, to advocate the objective method of teaching it,
and to endeavor to lead those towns not complying with the
law to see the value of industrial drawing and to make it one
of the regular studies in their public schools." 1
To harmonize the instruction, pamphlets of information have
been issued from time to time, as follows : —
Outline of a Course in Elementary Design, 1888. 2
Outline of a Course in Model and Object Drawing, 1889. 3
Outline Course for Normal Schools, 1891. 4
, Outline Course for High Schools, 1892. 5
Outline for Rural Schools, 1895. 6
Outline for Graded Schools, 1896. 7
Outline for the Study of Pictures, 1897. 8
These pamphlets have been in great demand, especially the
last three. Two editions of each have been printed. The out-
line for rural schools was reprinted entire by the State of Yer-
* Fifty-second annual report, page 278. 3 Fifty-second annual report of the Board.
3 Fifty-third annual report. 4 Fifty-fifth annual report. 5 Fifty-sixth annual report.
« With the assistance of Mr. Walter Sargent, agent, fifty-ninth annual report.
7 Sixtieth annual report. * Sixty-first annual report.
42
CHARACTER OF AGENTS' WORK.
inont, and a third edition of the outline for graded schools has
been asked for.
The objective method of teaching drawing has been empha-
sized from the first. 1 Insistence for more than ten years upon
the real object instead of a printed picture, upon fac-simile re-
productions of fine drawings instead of crude prints from dia-
grams, upon photographs of masterpieces instead of printed
descriptions of them, has had its effect. The entire character
and method of instruction in drawing in the public schools has
changed. Great emphasis has been laid upon the employment
of special teachers and supervisors of drawing ; for a teacher
of drawing who exemplifies in himself the objective method of
teaching, who leads and inspires pupils by his own drawings,
and who brings to his pupils the best things from nature and
from the realm of the arts, gives to the town a more ample
return for its money than can all other < 'drawing supplies"
combined.
In direct work with the cities and towns Mr. Bailey has had
the hearty co-operation of Mr. Walter Sargent, a man of rare
spirit and ability, who was appointed special agent for the
western counties in 1892. The work of these gentlemen is
fourfold : —
1. School Visitation. — The pupils are questioned, drawings
examined, and lessons given to illustrate objective methods of
teaching. Examples of especially good work collected and
used as illustrative material in other towns. The agents look
for the best, and attempt to make the best widely known and
emulated.
2. Teachers' Meetings. — The teachers of a town or a dis-
trict are called together at some central school building, and
instructed in methods of teaching. Examples of good work
from other places are exhibited, and suggestions are given for
improving the local results. Often the teachers are asked to
do such work as that required of pupils, the agent actually
teaching the class.
3. Public Addresses. — In towns where public sentiment
needs arousing or stimulating, the citizens are called together
for an evening meeting, and drawing, in its relation to public
1 Fifty-second annual report, page 275; fifty-third, page 333 ; fifty-fourth, page 207;
fifty-seventh, page 234 ; fifty-ninth, page 356 ; etc.
FREE EVENING DRAWING SCHOOLS.
43
education, to the arts and industries and to life, is illustrated
and explained.
4. Correspondence. — The agents find it necessary each
year to devote a part of their time to clerical work. They
receive hundreds of letters, asking for information and advice
concerning materials, books, reproductions, teachers, courses
of study, etc. They write occasional articles for educational
journals and magazines, to influence those whom they cannot
otherwise reach.
The services of the special agents for drawing are always in
demand, and are bespoken months in advance.
Under Municipal Control.
The Free Evening Drawing Schools.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale said, in 1890, in an address before
the Massachusetts Normal Art School Alumni Association :
" The real origin of the movement which made the Normal Art
School a necessity was in 1866-67, when the work of the even-
ing schools was extended to include a high school coarse.
Among these evening high school pupils a class in industrial
drawing was organized, and that first winter they met in tiie
vestry of my church on Shawmut Avenue, paying their own
expenses, including the bill for gas. A year or two later the
Lowell Institute became interested in the matter, and Mr.
Lowell drew up a petition for the introduction of drawing into
the schools of the State."
In response to that petition the resolve was passed, as already
stated upon page 15 of this pamphlet. A reference to that peti-
tion (page 10) will show that instruction for adults wa9 upper-
most in the minds of the petitioners, but the subsequent records
reveal the fact that such instruction had become of secondary
consideration before the law of 1870 was enacted. In that act
the public day schools hold first place. As a matter of fact,
however, instruction in evening classes became orderly and
effective in some cities much earlier than did the instruction in
the public day schools. Without doubt this was due to the fact
that the ends to be secured in evening classes were well defined.
Hon. Joseph White, secretary of the State Board, thus pre-
sents the situation during the winter of 1869-70 : —
44 ESTABLISHMENT OF EVENING SCHOOLS.
Free instruction in drawing has been given in connection with
evening schools for the last two winters in Boston. Of the first year's
experiment Messrs. Hale and Lowell, the committee of the petitioners,
remark : " When, last year, the city of Boston announced a free class
at the church of the Good Samaritan, one hundred and sixty appli-
cations were made at once, and the list of members was necessarily
closed for want of accommodations for pupils." There has been no
diminution in interest or in attendance during the season just closed.
The classes conducted at the School of Technology, under the auspices
of Hon. John A. Lowell, one of the petitioners, have always been
fully attended, especially by large numbers of mechanics. During
the present season a voluntary class has been formed at Fitchburg,
and instructed by a member of the Worcester Free School of Industrial
Science with the most gratifying results. The expense of annual
courses of lessons in drawing given in connection with the evening
schools will be small, very small, when compared with the results
which may be expected from them. Let these schools be opened in
all our manufacturing towns, — and most of our large towns are such,
— and we may expect to find: (1) a great improvement in respect
to the taste and skill exhibited in the various products of industry ;
(2) a rapid multiplication of valuable labor-saving machines ; and,
(3) better than all, an increase of the numbers and a manifest
advance in the intellectual and moral condition and character of the
artisans themselves.
The next season, the winter of 1870-71, after the passage of
the industrial drawing act, Mr. White writes as follows : —
It gives me very great satisfaction to learn that the law has been
cordially welcomed in nearly every section of the State. It evidently
met a felt if not an acknowledged want. That portion of it especially
which relates to the teaching of industrial drawing has called forth
a degree of interest, not to say enthusiasm, altogether beyond my
expectation. In many of the cities large classes have been formed,
and are now instructed in evening schools composed of persons —
mostly mechanics — of all ages, from fifteen to fifty, and the progress
of attainment has thus far given the highest satisfaction alike to the
pupils and instructors, and fully justified the expenditures made.
Large classes have been formed in Springfield, Worcester, Boston,
Cambridge, Charlestown, Salem, Taunton, New Bedford and Fall
River ; and in other cities the matter has been favorably considered
and steps taken for the formation of classes during the present season.
Correspondence has been had with the school committees of other
places, but I am not informed in regard to the measures taken by
VALUABLE WORK FOR THE PEOPLE.
45
them. The numbers in attendance have been large, varying from one
hundred and twenty to over four hundred. In many instances more
persons applied for admission than the committee could accommodate
with room or furnish with competent instruction.
This interest in the evening drawing schools increased year
by year until about 1885. A report upon the condition of these
schools, made by Mr. Bailey in 1888, may be summarized as
follows : —
Number of cities and towns of ten thousand or more inhabitants, . 30
Number maintaining an evening drawing school, .... 26
Number of pupils in freehand classes, 1,878
Number of pupils in mechanical classes, 1,672
Total number of pupils, 3,550
Number of* teachers employed, 100
The courses of instruction vary somewhat in different cities,
but in a general way they include geometry, projection, machine
and architectural drawing, model and object drawing in pencil
outline and in light and shade, drawing from casts, elementary
and applied design. In several cities are classes in clay model-
ling and in drawing from life.
These schools have been widely useful to people of all classes.
Hundreds of mechanics have been led to greater skill in handi-
craft ; scores have been enabled to become foremen and heads
of departments ; many an architect, engraver, illustrator, artist,
teacher, designer, now respected and even famous, has received
his first instruction, and been fired with ambition, in the free
evening drawing schools of the cities in Massachusetts.
The schools are open, upon the average, for three evenings
each week, from about the middle of October to the middle of
March. The statistics gathered in 1899 are as follows : —
Number of cities and towns of ten thousand or more inhabitants, . 39
Number maintaining an evening drawing school, .... 32
Number of pupils in freehand classes, ...... 1,283
Number of pupils in mechanical classes, 1,880
Total number of pupils, 3,163
Number of teachers employed, 122
46 BEGINNINGS OF MANUAL INSTRUCTION.
Manual Training Schools.
In the report of the State Board of Education for the year
ending Dec. 31, 1871, occur these words : —
One of our leading citizens who has devoted much time and thought
to this subject says that " provision for the prompt, speedy and ample
or the better education for the manufacturing or mechanic operatives
of Massachusetts is not only an investment promising a vast pecuniary
return, but is to-day a necessity of self-preservation for the State."
This 4 'leading citizen" evidently voiced the conviction of a
majority of the people, for about that time a resolve was passed
by the Legislature, by which the Board of Education was directed
to report 44 a feasible plan for giving in the common schools of
the cities and larger towns of this Commonwealth additional
instruction especially adapted to young persons who are acquiring
practical skill in mechanics or technical arts, or are preparing
for such pursuits."
The introduction of drawing as a required study in all public
schools, by act of May 16, 1870, had been the first step in this
direction. The second, as the Board saw it, was suggested in
the closing paragraph of the report : —
While the Board do not think it feasible or advisable to give
technical instruction in the common schools, other than drawing, and
perhaps needlework to girls, inasmuch as none of the branches now
taught in these schools can be dispensed with, for the graduates of
the common schools are the only ones properly fitted to enter the
technical school, they would suggest that the State authorize all cities
and towns having a population of five thousand and over to establish
free technical schools for instruction in such branches of knowledge
common to the leading industries of the entire State as may from time
to time be prescribed by the Board of Education.
March 9, 1872, the Legislature approved an act to authorize
cities and towns to establish industrial schools. Hon. Joseph
AVhite, then secretary of the Board, commenting upon this act,
said : —
It will be noticed that this resolve did not contemplate so much
the establishment of separate special schools for teaching arts and
EARLY EFFORTS IN BOSTON.
17
trades as the introduction into existing schools of those branches of
study as will best aid young persons in acquiring practical skill in
such trades and arts.
This, he goes on to say, is plainly impossible, except in the
case of drawing.
However, thoughtful educators perceived the lack of certain
desirable elements in the schools, and the matter was not allowed
to rest. In the report for 1878 Hon. John W. Dickinson said : —
Two results seern to follow the absence of the industrial element in
our system of elementary education : first, the pupils in the common
schools are not trained to skill in any kind of manual labor ; second,
from a lack of industrial training, and from the absence of skill in
labor on account of the lack, there is a large number of persons
growing up in our society with the idea that what is called work is to
be performed by physical force, guided only by instinct or by un-
trained reason. This sentiment degrades labor, and creates an
aversion to it. . . . It must be admitted that some form of industrial
training seems necessary, . . . but what kinds of labor should be
introduced ... or how we shall organize our schools with reference
to joining industrial training to ordinary school exercises, is still one
of the unsolved problems.
The next year Mr. Dickinson says : —
The problem, how we shall combine industrial training with our
common school exercises, has not yet been solved ; but the educators
of the State are solving it, and already some occupations, like sewing
and knitting in their many forms have been introduced, with great
success.
Evidently, Boston may have been one of the places where the
educators were at work, for the State report of 1882 has an
appendix by Mr. James A. Page, which gives an account of the
introduction of carpentry work into the D wight School, in com-
pliance with an order of the Boston school committee, dated July
5, 1881. The same report has an appendix on European
industrial art schools, by Mr. Chas. M. Carter, and another on
manual training in the common schools, — a special report of a
committee of the Board, consisting of Colonel Higginson, Gen-
eral Walker, Mr. A. P. Stone and Miss Abby W. May. This
48 ESTABLISHMENT OF MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOLS.
committee says : " The time has come for the serious study of the
question."
The next year the Board observes " Much earnest and intelli-
gent discussion of the general question," and a " disposition to
work out the problem ; " and, moreover, that " a conviction is
forming and gathering strength, that steps must be taken in the
near future to determine by actual trial whether a substantial
and permanent improvement may not be made in our system
of public instruction by the introduction of the industrial
element."
A year later, 1884, the Board reports that "the interests of
industrial education have received no new impulse," and that
no "especially new light has been thrown upon the subject."
The Board believed in making haste slowly, it said, and in
keeping an eye upon the experiments still in progress, the
results of which were "by many fondly anticipated." It is
interesting to note that this very year, when the Board expressed
its doubt as to the possibility of such instruction entering as
" a considerable element into our public school work," the
Legislature amended chapter 44 of the General Statutes to
include "the elementary use of hand tools" among those
branches which might be taught where the school committee
deemed expedient. Sewing had been permitted since 1876.
Since the permissive act of 1884 the elements of various
manual arts, including drawing, clay modelling, paper cutting,
— both decorative and constructural (as in the development of
surfaces), — wood working, — including the various forms of
knife work, sloyd, carpentry, wood turning and carving, —
metal working, sewing and cooking, have been slowly gaining
ground in the public schools of the Commonwealth.
On the 14th of June, 1894, the Legislature approved an act
to provide for manual training in cities and towns of more than
twenty thousand inhabitants. This act provided that after the
first day of September, 1895, every city of twenty thousand or
more inhabitants should maintain as part of its high school
system the teaching of manual training, the course to be pursued
in said instruction to be subject to the approval of the State
Board of Education.
This act applies to twenty-three cities, which made return to
the State Board, December, 1899, as follows : —
SUPERVISORS OF DRAWING. 49
Number of pupils in attendance, 3,814
Number of teachers employed, . 47
In addition, eighteen towns not required by law to maintain such
schools do maintain them ; these increase the number of pupils
in attendance to 7,336
And the number of teachers to 68
The courses of instruction in these schools are not uniform,
but in general they include the topics recommended by a special
committee appointed by the members of a council called by the
secretary of the State Board of Education in 1895: English,
mathematics (algebra and geometry), drawing, history or science,
and shop work (carpentry, wood turning, metal working —
forging and machine shop practice). During the third and
fourth years a modern language, French or German, is often
added to the requirements. The drawing includes, usually,
freehand drawing from objects and from casts, geometric
problems and applications, projection, machine and architectural
details, plans and elevations, and to a limited extent constructive
design.
In all these schools it is customary to require careful draw-
ings of every object as a preparation for the working out of -
that object in wood or metal. Objects are produced from the
drawing, almost never from another object. Inasmuch as
opportunity for originality is afforded in nearly every problem,
the results are constantly varied, and, under competent guidance,
become more beautiful year by year.
The schools furnish excellent training in preparation for any
of the handicrafts, prepare pupils to enter technical schools of
higher grade, and are exerting a salutary influence upon the
entire public school curriculum, and even upon college courses.
They are destined to grow in size and in power as the people
attain a clearer insight into the relations which exist between
the manual arts, including structural and decorative design, and
the economic and social problems of the day.
The Supervisors of Drawing.
When Mr. Walter Smith began his work in Boston, he found
several supervisors or special teachers of drawing already em-
ployed by the city. Mr. Smith's plan was to so train the
50
SUPERVISORS MOST DESIRABLE.
regular teachers that specialists would not be required. In the
report of the drawing committee for 1871 it was stated that,
" in the course of a few months, the whole body of instructors
would be competent to teach drawing with far better results
than have ever been attained in any schools in the Common-
wealth." The drawing committee reports in 1880 : " With the
present term, drawing in the high schools took a new depart-
ure. There, as previously in the grammar schools and primary
schools, it is now taught by the regular teachers, and thus the
long-contemplated abandonment of special instruction in schools
of all grades is an accomplished fact." As a justification of his
action in this matter, Mr. Smith quotes the words of the French
commissioners on education, sent b} r their government to the
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia: "It is necessary that
France defend her preeminence in art, hitherto uncontested.
With us, as elsewhere, it does not suffice to have excellent
special teachers of drawing, — it is necessary that all the
teachers should be able to give the first instruction in drawing
in the day classes to the entire school population." 1
It is of interest to place over against this the testimony of
an "intelligent Parisian" in 1898. In reply to the question,
" Is drawing in your schools taught by the regular teachers or
by special teachers?" the reply was : "Do not ask that ques-
tion in any school you visit ; they will think you to be a bar-
barian. By specialists, of course. It is an art. The regular
teachers have not the gift to teach it." 2
Mr. Smith's experiment in Boston yielded valuable results,
the chief of which was the knowledge that, if specialists were
unable to secure the best work, so also were the regular
teachers. Both sorts of instruction were necessary. Children
could be brought to do their best only when the faithful daily
instruction of the regular teacher was supplemented by the in-
spiring visits and stimulating criticisms and suggestions of a
well-trained specialist.
From Mr. Smith's day to the present time that conclusion
has remained unchallenged. The towns and cities of the State
have employed supervisors of drawing in increasing numbers
1 Report on Drawing, Walter Smith, Boston, 1880.
3 Drawing in Four Foreign Cities, Henry T. Bailey, 1898.
SUPERVISORS LEADERS IN PROGRESS. 51
every year. Reports to the State Board of Education, made *
in December, 1899, show the following conditions : 1 —
Whole number of cities and towns in State, 353
Number having regular instruction in drawing, .... 310
Number employing a supervisor of drawing 167
Percentage of pupils having regular instruction, . . . .98
Percentage under special supervision in drawing, 90
Percentage of towns employing State Normal Art School graduates, . 69
The individual supervisor of drawing has been from the first
a most important factor in public art education in the State.
The lack of a strongly centralized system of educational control,
the lack of that monarchical influence which always emanates
from a central authority backed by legislative enactments and
propagated by means of legal measures with appropriate penalties
in case of non-compliance, — penalties often unnamed and un-
nameable, but none the less severe and effectual, — this fortunate
lack has been favorable to the development of individuality in
local supervision and of originality in local methods. It has
come to pass, therefore, that many improvements in courses and
methods during the last fifteen years have been due to individual
supervisors. The agents of the State Board of Education have
been of service largely through improving the opportunities
afforded by their office to gather up the best, and to make that
best as widely known as possible. Thus the reform in instruc-
tion which has made mechanical drawing mechanical in fact as
well as in name, the reform which has placed drawing boards,
T-squares and triangles in the hands of upper grammar pupils,
originated with Miss Luella E. Fay 2 of Springfield. Miss Jessie
N. Prince 3 of Quincy was among the first to secure genuine
object drawing in grammar grades. No one has had greater
influence in bringing about the use of the brush and water colors,
than has Miss Irene Weir of Brookline. Miss L. Rena
MacLauthlin of Maiden was one of the earliest and most suc-
cessful advocates of picture study. James Hall of Springfield
has had a wide influence in promoting the study of the figure,
and N. L. Berry of Newton in demonstrating the possibilities
1 Compare this table with second paragraph on page 41.
3 Now Mrs. Elisha B. Maynard.
8 Now Mrs. Frederick L. Rice of Brighton.
52 SUMMARY OF CO-OPERATING AGENCIES.
of constructive design in all grades. Miss Helen F. Marsh
of Worcester and Miss Annette J. Warner of Pittsfield 1 were
leaders in the introduction of the study of color as color, and
of color harmonies. William J. Edwards of Gardner led in the
introduction of practical constructive design in ornamental iron
work, and Charles M. Campbell of Chicopee in pictorial com-
position in color in lower grades. The nature drawing, now
so important a part of the courses throughout the State, was
ably advocated and practised almost alone by Mr. Henry L.
Clapp of Boston for several years before it gained general
recognition .
These facts are sufficient to indicate how art instruction in
the public schools of Massachusetts has been improved, enriched
and strengthened by individual thought and experiment, under
the constant encouragement and approval of State and munici-
pal authorities.
The public agencies now co-operating for art education in
Massachusetts may be summarized as follows : —
Tlie Commonwealth, with its —
State Normal Art School ;
Departments of drawing in the eight other State normal schools ;
and
Special agents of the State Board of Education.
The Municipalities, with their —
Evening drawing schools ;
Manual training schools ;
Public day schools, under special teachers or supervisors of
drawing ; and
The public school teachers.
The changes in courses and in methods of instruction during
the last fifteen years have been almost revolutionary. While
there may have been a falling off in the mechanical perfection
of shading or in the laborious accuracy of detail in the finished
results of the higher grades, the advances have been so marked
along the lines of intelligent appreciation, expression of the
larger and more vital truths, interpretation of beauty, origi-
1 Now of Fitchburg Normal School.
PRESENT STATUS OF INSTRUCTION.
53
nality in representation and in design, feeling for color, taste in
arrangement, and in breadth of view, that one cannot but have
the most sanguine hopes for the future.
Illustrations.
The following plates are added to indicate the status of in-
struction in drawing in Massachusetts at the close of the nine-
teenth century.
Peabody, Gr. III.
/
PICTORIAL COMPOSITION. — Over the roofs, Holyoke High School. Through
the trees, Ipswich, Gr. VI. The towers, Northampton, Gr. IX.
DECORATIVE ARRANGEMENT, from Nature. — Clover, Chicopee, Gr. VIII.
Horse-chestnut, Brookline, Gr. VI.
A STUDY IN FORM
AND COLOR. DECORATIVE BRUSH STUDIES.
STUDIES FROM UPPER GRAMMAR GRADES. BOSTON.
AN INSPIRATION OF JUNE. FOR A HALL WINDOW IN
GEOMETRIC DESIGN.
ORIGINAL DESIGNS, HIGH SCHOOLS, BOSTON
DECORATIVE DESIGN. — Figured silk, Maiden High School.
Part of the exhibit from the State Normal School, Fitchburg, illustrating lessons ii
color and constructive design. All furnishings designed and made by
pupils in the Normal Training School, grades I to IX.
STUDIES FROM LIFE. — Paper cutting, Westfield Normal Practice School, Gr. I.
: ! _J
DRAWING FROM LIFE. — Ink silhouette, Fitchburg Normal Training
School, Gr. IV.
NATURE DRAWING. — Bird, Salem Normal School.
Butterfly, Brockton, Gr. VIII.
STUDY FROM LIFE. Wash drawing, Springfield Evening Drawing School.
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
II
GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORK OF
THE NORMAL SCHOOL
IN MASSACHUSETTS
ALBERT 0. BOYDEN, A.M.
PRINCIPAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
ERIDGEWATER, MASS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON : : MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
General View of the Work of the Normal
School.
The function of the State normal school is to educate teachers
for the schools of the State. The State supports its public
schools for the education of its children. It supports the nor-
mal school that its children may have better teachers.
1. The first requisite in the discharge of its function is that
the normal school shall inspire the student with the spirit of
the true teacher.
Its atmosphere must be such that he will be continually
breathing in this spirit. He is to consider the acquisition and
use of knowledge, the exercises of the school, his own purpose,
manners and conduct from the point of view of the teacher. It
is vitally important to awaken in the normal student a just
appreciation of the work of the teacher, that he must have the
spirit of service, must love his work, love his pupils, feel that
he has a mission which he must accomplish, and come to his
pupils, as the Great Teacher comes to men, that they may have
life abundantly. This end can be accomplished only by a
school whose sole purpose is the education of teachers, and
whose faculty is consecrated to this service.
2. The second requisite is that the normal student must be
carefully led through the educational study of the subjects of
the public school curriculum, that he may learn how to use
each in the teaching process and thereby learn the method of
teaching.
In the elementary and secondary school the student is a
learner, seeking the knowledge of the object and the mental
discipline which comes from right exertion in learning. In
the normal school he is a teacher ; he must think the object as
the learner thinks it, he must also think the process by which the
learner knows, and the means he is to use to cause the learner
to take the steps of this process. For instance, the teacher is
4
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
leading the learner to acquire the knowledge of a bird. The
learner, directed by the teacher, is occupied in finding the
parts, qualities, movements, habits of the bird. In doing this
he perceives, remembers, imagines, compares, generalizes, rea-
sons, but he does not notice these modes of activity through
which his mind moves. The teacher thinks the facts with the
learner ; he also must think the movement of the learner's
mind, and how he shall incite him to the most effective think-
ing. The teacher thinks the mind to be taught into unity with
the subject by which it is taught. The object of thought is
used as the means to teaching. Studying a subject as a teacher
is much more than studying the same subject as a learner. The
study of the subject for teaching is educational study.
It is important to notice that the teaching process cannot be
studied apart from the subjects which form the course of studies
for the schools. As we have seen, these subjects furnish the
objects of thought which must be used in teaching. It is a
well-known law of mental activity that the mind proceeds from
the particular and concrete to the general and abstract. TVe
must proceed from the particular ideas of individual objects to
the general idea of a class which is composed of the individual
objects. We must proceed from the knowledge of many red
objects to the abstract idea of redness. The same law controls
the learning of the teaching process. The normal student must
be led through the learning and teaching process in each sub-
ject ; he must buckle himself to the subject, and study it defi-
nitely for teaching ; then teach and be criticised on his work
until he has firmly grasped the process. When he has thus
gone through the study of the concrete process in the several
subjects, he can compare his experiences in these several studies,
and find the aim, the steps and the means of the teaching proc-
ess and the general method. This is the law which governs all
learning. We can acquire skill in any mechanical or mental
process only by going through the intelligent performance of
the process.
No one can produce the best quality of teaching in any grade
without this educational study of the subjects he is to use as
instruments in the unfolding of the life of the pupil. There is
no substitute for this study. The end cannot be accomplished
by reading about it, by hearing lectures upon it or by observ-
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
5
ing others do it. The separation of normal school work into
' ' the academic study of subjects and the study of methods " is
not sound educational practice.
The teacher must have a full knowledge of each subject at his
ready command. He needs to be saturated with his subject, if
he would teach effectively, so that he can give his attention to
the pupil's mind, put himself in full sympathy with the pupil
and be ready to use the subject as the needs of the pupil may
require. The normal student must consider the subject philo-
sophically, to know why it has its place in the course of studies.
Take the subject reading as an instance of the need of this study.
What is it to be able to read an author? What is this power
as a factor in life ? Why should reading be taught ? What is
its place in the course of studies? These questions must be
answered by the teacher before he can effectively teach reading.
Without this philosophical study of the subject the teacher will
be formal, empirical and fall into routine. He must consider
the subject scientifically, that he may know its principles in
their systematic arrangement, and to place the subject in its
true relation to other subjects. The principles of the subject
in their orderly arrangement are the things essential to be
taught, if the pupil is to be able to use his knowledge in solving
the problems of life. Without this scientific study of the sub-
ject the teacher's work will be fragmentary, will lack order,
method, vitality. He must study the subject pedagogically, to
know its relation to the pupil, to know what parts are to be
used and emphasized in teaching and the best method of using
them. Without this pedagogical study of the subject the teacher
w ill fail to adapt his teaching to the needs of the pupil. He
needs to consider each subject from this threefold point of view.
The study of one subject in this way does not enable him to use
mi iot her subject in teaching without studying it in the same way.
Teaching should be rational, not empirical.
The normal student should have, at the beginning of his
work in the normal school, an elementary course in psychology,
to indicate distinctly the principles and the method of teaching
in the school ; then begin at once upon the educational study
of the subjects and continue it through the curriculum.
The pupil in the elementary and secondary school has not the
purpose, the attainments or the maturity necessary for the edu-
6
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
cational study of the subject. He leaves the elementary sub-
jects when he enters the secondary school, he takes the secondary
subjects for the first time in that school, and he is far from being
saturated with the subjects when he leaves the secondary school.
The secondary school courses are elective. 'The best graduate
of the secondary school often has not taken at all some of the
subjects called for in the enrichment of the elementary school
course, as recommended by the Committee of Ten and the
Committee of Fifteen. f Hence it not unfrequently happens that
some of the best students in the normal school must take their
first study of a subject from the educational point of view. It
is by no means certain that this is any disadvantage to the stu-
dent as a teacher.
To be well equipped for teaching in the elementary schools,
the normal student must take the educational study of the
secondary school subjects as well as that of the elementary
school subjects. The teacher in any grade cannot do his own
work properly unless he knows the relation it holds to what
precedes and follows. He must know more than he teaches. ^
Confining one's effort to any one grade is narrowing in its
effect upon teacher and pupil. One cannot teach the program
given by the Committee of Fifteen for the elementary schools
without this study. He cannot teach the language required
by this program effectively without this study of other languages
than English ; he cannot teach the arithmetic and elementary
algebra in their proper relation to the study of higher mathe-
matics without this study of algebra and geometry ; he cannot
teach geography intelligently without this study of history and
the several sciences upon which geography depends ; he cannot
teach nature study acceptably without this study of the natural
sciences ; he cannot effectively use the myths and stories from
ancient history now called for in the earlier grades, or make
United States history a living study, without this study of
general history ; he cannot use the gems of literature and art
without something of this study of literature and art ; and to
these must be added this study of drawing, vocal music, manual
training and physical culture.
There is a prevalent misconception of the true work of the
normal school. It finds expression in the statement, so often
made, that the so-called academic studies should be left out of
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
7
the normal school course of study, and the school should give
its whole attention to strictly professional work, — that is, to
the study of psychology, the principles and methods of teach-
ing, the history of education and training in the practice school.
The study of psychology may be just as academic as that of
arithmetic or grammar, and when so studied it does not meet
the teacher's needs. The study of these subjects is not profes-
sional until they are studied with direct reference to the teach-
ing process.
This view of the work of the normal school is based on the
false assumption that we may supply the normal student with
educational theory in the abstract, and leave him to make the
application of the theory in teaching in each of the particular
subjects ; whereas all philosophy and experience show that
theory and practice must be conjoined in the concrete teaching
process. Persons equipped with educational theories may be
good talkers about teaching, but they will never become good
teachers under this divorce of theory and practice.
The academic studies should not be taken in the normal course
for academic study, but the time will never come when we can
safely dispense with the educational study of these subjects in
the normal school. The normal school is to be made profes-
sional, not by the exclusion of these studies from its course,
but by the inclusion of the educational study of them. All the
studies of the normal school should be strictly professional, that
is, studied in their direct bearing upon the teaching process,
whether the course be shorter or longer, for elementary or for
higher work. The one function of the normal school is the
education of teachers. This function is capable of indefinite
extension. All teachers, from the kindergarten through the
university, should have their professional training.
3. The third requisite is that the school should lead the nor-
mal student, after the educational study of the subjects of the
school curriculum, through the broader study of man, body and
mind, to find the principles of education which are derived by
this study and which underlie all true teaching. This study is
invaluable for its "influence in expanding the mind, enlarging
the views, elevating the aims and strengthening the character
of the student." After this study the student should be led
through a careful analysis of the art of teaching, school organi-
8
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
zation and school government, and the study of school laws and
the history of education. In this study the student is constantly
referring to his experience in the educational study of subjects
for illustrations to establish the general views he is now
discussing.
4. The fourth requisite is that the normal student shall be
led to make a practical study of children, which he should do
as fully as possible throughout the course, under intelligent sug-
gestion ; that he should have ample observation, under intelli-
gent guidance, in all the grades of a good public school, with a
first-class teacher at work in charge of each room ; that he
breathe the atmosphere, become familiar with the workings and
become acquainted with the children as pupils in such a school ;
that, in the latter part of his course, when he has some just con-
ception of the nature and method of true teaching, and when he
has become acquainted with the pupils, he should have ample
practice in teaching, under such supervision as he needs,
whether it be more or less. To put the student to teaching
before this preparation is a wrong to him and a much greater
wrong to the children. We have no right to waste the child's
birthright by ignorant attempts to teach him.
These four requisites are the minimum requirements for a
true normal school, which has its distinctive place as a profes-
sional school. The child who is to be developed by the teacher
is a self-active, rational being ; a person, not a thing ; a free
personality, a moral cause ; therefore self-exertion is the first
condition of his development. "He stands all by himself in
the world as an individual, with his own thoughts and feelings,
his own hopes and fears and possibilities, his own relations to
his fellow-beings and to God." His individuality is to be
respected. The development of the individual according to his
needs is the end toward which he is to be trained.
The art of teaching is the art of directing the unfolding and
perfecting of human lives. Its aim is to incite the learner to
right living. It is the highest of the arts, inasmuch as rational
life, which places man at the head of the creation, is the highest
type of life. It is worthy of the profoundest study.
The practice of the art calls for an artist who has the greatest
natural aptitude, the noblest character, the fullest knowledge,
the ripest experience and the most delicate skill ; hence the art
WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
9
is never completely mastered. The best teacher may improve.
The young teacher has not all this power, but he should be led
to strive for it with all his might.
Subjects for Course of Two Years.
The students entering upon the course are graduates of a
good high-school course of four years, or have had an equiva-
lent of this course.
1. Elementary course in psychology, to indicate distinctly
the principles and the method of the teaching in the school.
2. The educational study of the following subjects, for the
knowledge of their educational value, their principles and the
method of teaching in each : —
(a) Mathematics. — Arithmetic and book-keeping, ele-
mentary algebra and plane geometry.
(b) Nature Studies. — Minerals, plants, animals, physical
force, chemical force, geological agencies, geography, the human
body, physical training, manual training.
(c) Language. — Reading and vocal culture, English, in-
cluding orthography, orthoepy, etymology, grammar, composi-
tion, rhetoric, literature, drawing and color, vocal music.
(d) History. — History of United States and civil govern-
ment, school laws of the State, history of education.
3. The educational study of man, body and mind, for the
principl^^f education, the art of teaching, school organization,
school govern^^^
4. Child study, observation and practice in model school.
Subjects for Course of Four Years.
The students start with the same qualifications as in the two-
years course.
1. Elementary course in psychology, to indicate distinctly
the principles and the method of the teaching in the school.
2. The educational study of the following subjects, for the
knowledge of their educational value, their principles and the
method of teaching in each : —
(a) Mathematics. — Arithmetic and book-keeping, algebra,
geometry, plane and solid, trigonometry and surveying.
(b) Nature Studies. — The same subjects as in the two-
10 WORK OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.
years course. Science. — Physics, chemistry, mineralogy,
botany, zoology, geology and astronomy.
(c) Language. — More extended study of the subjects of the
two-years course, Latin, Greek, French and German.
(cZ) History. — History of the United States and civil
government, school laws of the State, general history, history
of education, political economy, sociology.
3. The educational study of man, body and mind, for the
principles of education, the art of teaching, school organiza-
tion, school government.
4. Child study, observation and practice in model school.
The subjects should be taken in the order of their dependence,
and the distribution of time upon them will vary with the inter-
nal conditions of each school. Minimum and maximum courses
should be arranged to meet the varying abilities of the students.
A three-years course may be arranged for the accommoda-
tion of those desiring an elective course, by taking the studies
of the two-years course with electives from the advanced sub-
jects of the four-years course. In some schools a special
course is arranged for college graduates and for teachers of long
experience.
The four-years course is especially helpful in the proper train-
ing of teachers for the upper grades of the schools. Its neces-
sity becomes increasingly apparent with the increasing demand
for teachers of higher qualifications. Its influence upon those
pursuing the shorter course is of great beu^fcpii^B-ing the
standard of qualification and in strengthens^ the desire for
more extended professional study.
The graduates from these courses will find their places in the
schools according to their ability as teachers. The provision
for certificates, diplomas and degrees varies very much in the
different States, and can be improved only as the better quality
of the graduates of the normal school commends them to the
best public sentiment.
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
III
MARY HEMENWAY DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSEHOLD ARTS
CONNECTED WITH THE STATE NORMAL
SCHOOL, FRAMINGHAM, MASS.
HENRY N^HITTEMORE, A. B.
PRINCIPAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
FRAMINGHAM, MASS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY : : 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON :: MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
The Mart Hemenway Department of Household
Arts, connected with the State Normal
School at Framingham.
The department of household arts was established in Boston
under the name of Boston Normal School of Cookery, by the late
Mrs . Mary Hemenway , in 1 88 7 . Its graduates easily found posi-
tions as teachers in public and private schools and in institutions.
Its increasing usefulness in enlarging the profession of teaching
is constantly proved. In June, 1898, the trustees of the Mary
Hemenway estate offered to the State Board of Education the
school, with the very generous proposal that, if the offer was
accepted, Mr. Augustus Hemenway, her son, would thoroughly
furnish and equip such a department, as a memorial of his
mother. Mrs. Louis Cabot and Mrs. Wm. E. C. Eustis,
daughters of Mrs. Hemenway, joined with Mr. Hemenway in
his benefactions.
The wealth of such a gift and its far-reaching beneficence the
Board was quick to appreciate ; therefore the offer was most
thankfully accepted, and the Normal School at Framingham
chosen as the one best fitted to receive it, on account of its
nearness to Boston, its two boarding halls and the many gram-
mar schools in the town, from which pupils could be drawn for
its practice school.
The transfer to and the establishment of the school at Fram-
ingham were made under the direction of Miss Amy Morris
Homans, who in person attended to every detail, and through
whose fostering care the school had reached its high standing
in Boston ; and of Miss Louisa A. Nicholass, who had been for
a number of years its very able principal, and whose services
have been retained.
The Purpose of the Department.
Its principal object is to provide for the adequate training of
teachers of various household arts, especially cookery in its
different forms.
4
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
There is a pressing need for more broadly trained teachers
of household arts in the public schools and in training schools
for nurses, and also for persons able to supervise and direct,
scientifically, departments in larger institutions. The applica-
tions of modern science to e very-day life are manifold, and no-
where more important than in the home, — the centre of all
normal living.
The sciences which underlie the successful and intelligent
conduct of the home, whether it be small or large, on its mate-
rial side are, above all others, physiology, chemistry and
hygiene ; and, therefore, any well-arranged curriculum of a
school of household arts must be based upon a substantial foun-
dation of these subjects. Moreover, as these cannot be well
understood or well applied without the elements of physics and
biology, brief courses in these subjects, also, must be provided.
Its Curriculum. — Length of Course, Two Years.
Any pupil who graduates from the regular normal course can
take the course in the household arts in one year ; or any grad-
uate of the course in household arts can take the normal course
in one year.
It is the aim of the instruction in all branches to teach the
student self-reliance. It is obvious that the equipment of actual
knowledge which a student takes with her from any school such
as this must be extremely limited. Judicious training in accurate
thinking and working must therefore be the main object of the
teacher, if the student is to reap the highest benefit from her stay
in the school. The courses in chemistry are particularly well
adapted to give this training, since a large part of the two years
of study is spent in actual work in laboratories, where the student
cannot fail to discover for herself the absolute dependence of re-
sults on the character of her work and on the methods she has
employed. As disciplinary work alone, the value of such study
cannot be overrated, but it also has a direct and permanent prac-
tical value in the household arts.
Chemistry. — The courses in chemistry form a progressive
series, and are intended to prepare the students in a systematic
way for a thorough comprehension of the underlying principles
of cookery, of laundry work, of dyeing, of cleaning, etc., and
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
5
those involved in the management of foods, fires, fuels, illu-
minants, ventilation and the like.
The instruction in chemistry begins with a thorough course
in general chemistry, in which the fundamental principles of the
science are taught by means of experimental lectures, sixty in
number, and by class-room recitations. In connection with this
course, which occupies an entire year, the student has one hun-
dred and twenty hours of practical work in the laboratory of
general chemistry. Systematic and extended instruction in
qualitative analysis is given in the second half of the first year,
so that by the end of this year students are prepared to begin
the more exact discipline of quantitative work.
The work in quantitative analysis consists of a brief course in
volumetric analysis and in gravimetric analysis. Both of these
courses include class-room as well as laboratory work.
An elementary course is given on organic chemistry. This
deals with the structure of carbon compounds and with the inter-
actions between the different classes of those compounds which
are most frequently used.
Physics. — This study has a direct and a permanent practical
value in household arts. While not so much time is given to it
as to some other studies, yet it has a decided place in the curricu-
lum. The instruction consists of lectures, recitations and demon-
strations upon the fundamental principles of matter and energy,
mechanics, hydraulics and the elementary forces, — heat, light
and electricity.
General Biology. — To this subject, as to physics, only so
much time is allotted as is believed to be absolutely required to
furnish a sound basis for physiology, hygiene and bacteriology,
consisting of lectures, recitations and laboratory work. In this
course the beginner is introduced to the use of the microscope,
and learns to examine plant and animal bodies and to resolve
them into elementary organs, tissues and cells. Constant prac-
tice in drawing is required, and such subjects are dealt with
as the structure of living things ; the elementary living stuff
(cytoplasm) ; first principles of nutrition, digestion, foods and
feeding; the sources of starch, sugar, etc.; and the interde-
pendence and interrelation of the living and the lifeless, or the
organic and the inorganic world.
G
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
Physiology. — The chief interest of the class in this study
centres naturally in nutrition and related subjects. Somewhat
more than half the time is therefore devoted to such questions,
while the remaining heads are treated in less detail. A course
is thus provided which is reasonably complete in its several
departments, but is especially full in respect to the income and
outgo of the animal body and the processes intervening.
In the beginning there is a brief resume of the anatomy, with
which the students have become familiar in previous courses.
The environment and activities of the typical cell are touched
upon. The blood and the lymph are next studied, as the media
in which the cells live and the bearers of their nutriment and
their waste. Muscle physiology introduces the interesting case
of a tissue specialized to perform mechanical work at the expense
of the energy latent in its store of fuel substances. Certain
features of the nervous system and the nature of reflex action
are noticed in this connection. Passing on to the circulation,
the class attacks the mechanical problems involved in the move-
ment of the blood and the regulation of local supply. Respi-
ration brings in the question of oxygen supply and the removal
of carbon dioxide from the system.
The principal part of the course opens with a consideration
of the purpose and nature of food. Then the structure of the
digestive tract is studied, and the circumstances under which
secretions are produced by the various glands. The action of
these digestive juices upon the food forms an important subject.
After the reduction of the food to a form fit for absorption; there
still remain to be considered the path by which it enters the cir-
culation, the chemical changes by which it serves the organism
and the removal of waste products to which it finally gives rise.
Some time is given to the quantitative side of metabolism. This
becomes a very practical matter, as it throws light upon the value
of the different food stuffs, the extent to which one may replace
another, and the relation of the diet to tissue building, muscular
work and heat production. Finally, the usefulness of condi-
ments, stimulants and mineral matter in the food is discussed.
The concluding lectures are upon the central nervous system,
the sense organs and the principles of personal hygiene.
Bacteria and Yeasts. — Bacteriology and the study of micro-
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
7
organisms of fermentation, especially of yeasts, constitute a
prominent feature of the final year. The students learn how
to make their own culture media, how to examine milk, water,
air, ice, dust, etc., and how to test the efficiency of filters, ster-
ilizers and germicides. The course is arranged as follows : —
Bacteriology anC Micro-organisms of Fermentation.
Classification of micro-organisms.
General biology of bacteria.
General physiology of bacteria.
Bacteriology of water and ice.
Bacteriology of air.
Bacteriology of earth and dust.
Bacteriology of drainage.
Bacteriology of milk.
Bacteria concerned in vinegar-making.
Bacteria concerned in lactic acid production.
Bacteria concerned in dairying.
Bacteria concerned in nitrification.
Testing of domestic filters.
Testing of disinfectants for household use.
Bacteriology of food preservation.
Bacteriology of Pasteurizing.
Bacteriology of canning.
Bacteriology of pickling, etc.
Yeast, general biology and physiology.
Yeast, cause of fermentation of bread and drinks.
Yeast, compressed.
Yeast, wild.
Yeast, fungi related to.
Molds, general biology.
Molds, structure and physiology.
Molds, fermentations caused by.
Molds in relation to food substances.
General phenomena of putrefaction and decay.
Relation of bacteria to infectious disease.
Epidemics, etc.
Outline of Course ix the Household Arts Laboratory.
The subjects which have thus far been described have had to
deal with what might be called household sciences. Their prac-
tical application finds pre-eminently a place in the household
8
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
arts laboratory, and their demonstration can be denominated
household arts.
To illustrate the character of the instruction provided for in
the household arts laboratory, the following outline of courses
in the principles and practice of cookery and laundry work is
given somewhat in detail.
The work is arranged on educational as well as on technical
lines, and therefore affords both theoretical and practical instruc-
tion, and is given in a well-equipped household arts laboratory.
The practical work of cookery is presented in four courses,
on the following lines : —
Household or plain cookery.
Advanced cookery, including preserving, canning and the
making of jellies, jams and marmalades.
High-class cookery.
Special cookery for the very sick (therapeutic cookery) , and
its application for hospital nurses in training schools.
Principles of Cookery. — The five "food principles" or
"nutrients" are carefully considered, viz.: water, mineral
matter, carbohydrates, proteids or albuminous fluids, and fats.
The principles of the science and art of cookery are developed
by general rules and formulae, so far as practicable, and special
attention is given to their application by individual practice.
The subjects of the course are developed as follows : —
Fuels. — Principles of combustion, conditions for sustaining ;
use and costs of the ordinary fuels.
Construction of both coal and gas ranges, with practice in the
use of such apparatus, and in the building, regulation and care
of coal fires.
Principles and experimental work relating to the Aladdin oven.
The chafing-dish.
Food-stuffs. — Introductory. General composition of the
human body.
Classification of nutrients needed, and a study of the different
food-stuffs as the source of supply.
Milk as a Type. — Experiments to illustrate its constituents
and properties.
Water. — Is considered as a cooking medium, with experi-
ments. Thermometers are standardized, and used in the boil-
ing of water and the cookery of starch, sugar, albumen and fats.
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
9
Mineral Matter. — The various salts of food materials.
Carbohydrates. — Sources: (a) Starch, — composition; ex-
periments ; cooking temperature. Practical application to cook-
ery of starchy food-stuffs, as corn starch, rice, tapioca, sago,
macaroni, etc. ; the cooking of such starchy foods as grains,
vegetables ; the use of corn starch and flour in the making of
sauces and thickening of soups, (b) Sugars, — composition;
the cooking of cane sugar ; the use of thermometer ; the degrees
of heat required for different results, as in soft and hard caramel
(for coloring soups and sauces) ; also for soft and hard candies,
as in French cream candies or fondant and glace fruits. Prac-
tical tests for the same.
Practical applications, including the preparation of dishes
containing starch, sugar and fruits in various combinations, are
then made.
Proteids or Albuminous Foods. — Albumen, — sources ; type,
white of egg. This subject is studied and experimentally de-
veloped by the same general methods as the cookery of starch,
and the principles of its cookery are applied to the making of
various dishes, as soft and hard cooked eggs ; poached and
baked ; combined with milk in other forms, as in creamy eggs,
and soft and baked custards of different kinds ; the combination
of milk, starchy and albuminous food materials in dishes for
breakfast, luncheon or dessert; the cookery of albumen, as
applied to the cooking of fish, poultry and meat ; methods of
their cookery ; objective points ; heat transferred.
In connection with meat cookery, the albuminoids are con-
sidered.
Albuminoids. — Sources ; gelatine, prepared in the form of
soup stocks, brown and white.
Principles and Pules for clearing Stock. — Soups : stock and
vegetable ; milk and cream. Gelatine dishes : commercial gela-
tine, kinds, costs and uses ; plain jellies ; jellies with egg or
egg and cream in different combinations, as used in the making
of wholesome desserts.
Fats. — Sources; constitution; effects of heat ; use and im-
portance in the dietary.
Batter and Doiujli Mixtures. — (1) Expansion by air and
moisture, as effected by heat, to make porous'. (2) The appli-
cation of these principles to the preparation of popovers and
10
HOUSEHOLD ARTS.
Yorkshire pudding, wheat and gluten wafers, cream and sponge
cake. (3) Expansion of batters and doughs by use of chemi-
cals, as cream of tartar and soda or other acids, or acid salts
with the alkaline salt, soda, in combination. Objective points :
principles and properties ; experiments ; application to the
preparation of breakfast bread-stuffs, gingerbread, desserts and
cake. (4) Baking powders : general composition of standard
powders ; chemical reactions and products, with applied prin-
ciples of chemistry; formulae, with practical applications to
the preparation of bread-stuffs, cakes and desserts.
Fermentation. — Fermentation by yeast, and its application
to the preparation of bread, rolls and biscuit, also for breakfast
muffins and gems. Experimental work with flour of different
kinds. Individual practice required.
Frozen Dishes. — Principles; general rules; sherbets, ice
creams: (1) plain; (2) fancy, with simple and richer combi-
nations.
Outline of the Course in Practical Laundry Work.
Examination of fabrics, as cotton, linen, woollen and silk;
effect of cold and hot water.
The use of chemicals as cleansing agents; namely, soaps,
washing-powders, soda, ammonia and borax.
Removal of stains, as fruit, tea and coffee, iron-rust, etc.
Household Linen. — Preparation for the laundry ; cleansing,
drying and starching, hot and cold processes ; folding, ironing ;
special, embroideries and laces ; bluings, kinds, composition
(tests with experiments) and use. Application as desired.
Requirements for Admission to the Department of House-
hold Arts.
All the requirements for admission to the normal school in re-
gard to examinations, tuition, testimonials, and such rules and
regulations as are from time to time given for the conduct of the
school, are distinctly and directly applicable to this department.
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. $. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
IV
PHYSICAL TRAINING
IN MASSACHUSETTS NORMAL SCHOOLS
W. A. BALDWIN, B.S.
PRINCIPAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
HYANNIS, MASS.
9
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON :: MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
Physical Training in Massachusetts Normal
Schools*
This subject was to have been presented by an instructor in
physical training from one of the State normal schools. Unfort-
unately failing to secure such a speaker, the officers of this
association have ventured to try the experiment of inviting one
who has never taught physical training to discuss this very
important subject. Your criticisms be on their heads. My
great interest in this matter is my excuse for appearing before
you.
In the time at my disposal I shall attempt to show you some-
thing of what is being attempted in the normal schools of the
State, and supplement this report by a few suggestions regard-
ing the kind of physical training which students in our normal
schools ought to get and ought to take out to all the schools of
the Commonwealth.
I must confess to seeming a theorist, but I desire to say that
many, if not all, of the suggestions offered have grown gradu-
ally out of my experience as a normal graduate going out to
teach, as a superintendent over country and village schools,
as principal of a normal school with a dormitory, and as a
teacher of pedagogy and the history of education.
The questionnaire which is a part of this paper was sent to
each of the ten State normal schools and to the Boston city
normal school. Answers were received from nine, or all but
one. The one from which answers were not received is pro-
vided with a well-equipped modern gymnasium, and is probably
doing as much as any of the other schools in this line of work.
* A paper read before the Massachusetts Superintendents' Association, Feb. 9, 1900.
4
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
Questionnaire.
Physical Training in Massachusetts Normal Schools.
1 . Is a physician's certificate required of students desiring admis-
sion to the school ?
2. Is a personal examination given by the physical director when
the student enters the school?
3. If such an examination is given, please underline in the follow-
ing list the names of such things as are tested : lungs, heart, back,
digestion, nervous troubles, female troubles, headaches, eyesight,
hearing.
4. Along which of these lines was the entering class of 1899 most
deficient?
5. To what do you attribute these deficiencies?
6. What system of gymnastics is used?
7. What is the number of recitation periods during the first term,
second term, third term, fourth term?
8. Is the work given largely dependent upon apparatus?
9. Size of gymnasium.
10. General character of the equipment.
11. Does the school provide apparatus and grounds for out-of-door
sports ?
12. To what extent?
13. Are games taught in connection with the physical training?
14. If so, to what extent?
15. Underline out-of-door games used: football, baseball, basket-
ball, croquet, tether-ball, lawn tennis, golf. Add any others.
16. What amount of time is devoted to the theory of gymnastics?
17. What amount of time is devoted to practice on the part of the
students?
18. Does the director of physical training have charge also of the
physical training in the training school ?
19. Are the games of the children on the playground supervised?
By whom ?
20. Are games employed in connection with the regular physical
training of the training school during school hours?
21. In what grades, and to what extent?
22. Does your teacher of physical training believe in the old-fash-
ioned recess for the training school ?
23. Is any attempt made to regulate the habits of the students of
the normal school as to exercise, sleep and study hours?
24. Are students required to report on any of these subjects?
25. Do you find that students improve in power to care for them-
selves along these lines ?
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
•3
26. Is special treatment (medical gymnastics) employed to meet
individual needs?
27. Is the work in physical training connected with and based upon
the teaching in hygiene and physiology ?
28. Do the students of your school improve or deteriorate on the
physical side during the course in the normal school?
29. Mention, in order of their prominence, the main purposes which
you have in mind in teaching the subject of physical training.
The answers may be summarized as follows : —
Five schools require a physician's certificate. Five schools
require a personal examination given by the physical director.
Nearly all of these examine in all of the points suggested by
the questions, and several give a much more searching examina-
tion. The answers to questions 4 and 5 w T ere too unsatisfactory
to be reported. The Swedish system (modified) of gymnastics
is in use in every school. The number of recitation periods
for the course of two years varies from seventy to one hundred
and twenty. The work given is not largely dependent upon
the apparatus, except in one school. The gymnasiums vary in
size from 45 by 30 feet to 85 by 30 feet. The general charac-
ter of the equipment is Swedish. Six schools have grounds and
apparatus for out-of-door sports, such as basket-ball, tennis,
croquet, tether-ball, baseball, football, golf ; all teach games
in connection with gymnastics. The relative amount of time
devoted to theory and practice varies greatly in the different
schools, but in most cases it is as one to nine. In five schools
the director of physical training has charge in both normal and
model or training schools: In three schools only are the games
of the pupils supervised on the playground. Six schools use
games in connection with the regular schoolroom work in phys-
ical training, but in most cases only in the primary grades.
The physical directors of five schools believe in the old-fashioned
recess for the children of the training school. Eight schools
attempt to regulate the habits of the normal students as to
exercise, sleep and study hours. Three schools require regular
or irregular reports ; six schools report improvement in power
to care for themselves along these lines on the part of students.
Eight schools report that they employ special treatment for
individual needs. Eight schools report that the work in phys-
ical training is based upon the teaching in physiology and
6
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
hygiene ; six, that it is also connected with such teaching.
Eight schools report that their students improve in physical
condition during their course in the school. The answers to
the last question were not so clear and concise as could be
desired ; in fact, they were too varied to be reported.
^Physical training is now a broader term than it used to be.
Just as education no longer means a few formal lessons in the
three " R's," so physical training no longer means a few gym-
nastic exercises practised in a perfunctory way for ten minutes
each day. Education is broadening out to include the whole
life of the child ; so physical training must broaden out to
include all the physical manifestations of the child. The time
is coming when we shall pay as much attention to the physical
as to the mental and moral development of the child. We are
beginning to realize that they are all bound up together during
man's life on earth, and that they must develop together. Ever
since Bacon said, " We command nature only by obeying her,"
men have been seeking after the natural method of development.
Comenius, Locke, Eousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel each in
turn wrote on the subject ; and, if we would follow the sugges-
tions of Froebel, there would be a revolution in much of our
work in physical training. But it is very easy to say, "An
all-round education demands mental, moral and physical de-
velopment in equal proportions," and very hard to do as we
say. It is the old story of actions lagging several centuries
behind words.
The work of the normal school may well be directed along
two main lines, viz. : —
1. Personal hygiene of students.
2. Preparation to train children in schools.
Let us first discuss what the student should get for himself.
The normal school has a right to demand that applicants come
with good health and sound bodies ; only such should attempt
to teach our schools. It is bound to send them forth with as
good health as they bring.
It should aid them in forming habits of regularity in eating,
sleeping, exercise, work and recreation, which will go with
them through life. Much of the friction and all of the break-
downs among; teachers are due to lack alono- these lines. If it
is proper to prescribe, as we do, so many hours of study upon
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
7
certain subjects and so many hours of laboratory work, is it not
as proper to prescribe so many hours of sleep, of exercise and
of recreation, and so many meals to be eaten? We require
regularity in recitation. Regularity is necessary to the forma-
tion of right habits ; hence regularity is necessary in eating,
sleeping, exercise, rest or recreation. Work should be so
planned as to allow a time in each day and at least one half-day
in each week for complete relaxation. Excursions or games
should be planned which will provide interesting exercise in
the open air. Why not have regular examinations of students,
questioning them regarding their habits of eating, sleeping and
exercise? Why not prescribe special exercises, special diet, a
lightening of program, and make a business of these things ?
In other words, why not treat these matters as though we con-
sidered them as important as algebra or physics ? Why not
have the physical director state whether, in her opinion, a stu-
dent is physically fit to continue her studies, etc. ? Why not
drop or refuse to promote or graduate students with persistent
headaches, indigestion, female weaknesses, hysteria, nervous-
ness ? Why should not the physical director have something
to say about the time of manual training, of laboratory work,
of all physical training and the amount of study as well ? Why
should not arrangements for recreations, as socials and other
forms of relaxation, be considered a part of the physical train-
ing ? We do all that we dare to do along these lines at Hyan-
nis, but public sentiment will not sustain us as far as we would
like to go. The pride of the students and of their parents is
often the chief difficulty.
Dangers in normal schools arise mainly from over-anxiety
and lack of regular exercise in the open air. These are due in
part to the lack of definite understanding regarding the length
and number of study hours for each subject, the amount of time
spent in the copying of notes, and similar matters. The best
teachers are often the worst offenders. Our practice at Hyan-
nis is to discuss these matters frequently in faculty meetings.
In the training school, students become very anxious about
managing and teaching children. They often work until dark.
It is hard to meet all the unfavorable conditions. They need
particular care, and criticism must be carefully administered.
They should be sent out into the open air for exercise during
8
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
daylight. We try to plan the work in both the normal and
training school so that no student can justly complain of lack
of time for exercise.
There has been a great lack of cultivation of the proper atti-
tude toward the care of the body. A student says, "I had
rather break down than fail to pass ; I can get well after I fin-
ish my course." We are trying to change this. The cultiva-
tion of the proper attitude is often brought about more quickly
and easily by providing interesting games than in any other
way. At Hyannis we have basket-ball out of doors in fall and
spring and in doors in the winter, -tennis, baseball, football,
tether-ball, boxing gloves, punching-ball, curtain-ball, battle-
dore and shuttlecock, and bean bags.
Very much depends upon the spirit or attitude. Young
people are not in a normal condition unless they are happy,
hopeful, sanguine, self-reliant, vigorous. Students need to be
fresh, vigorous and happy, to do their best mental work.
Hoffding says : " Since memory has its physiological expres-
sion in the power of the organism to preserve traces of received
impressions, it is self-evident that the fresher and more ener-
getic the general vital process the better may things be learned ;
i.e., the sensuous percepts will leave behind more permanent
and deeper traces ; " and " Things we have learned and experi-
enced in an unusually energetic and cheerful frame of mind are
more easily retained than things we have taken in when ener-
vated and out of humor."
Social life should be cultivated, in order to take the students'
minds from regular work and worry. At Hyannis general
socials and private socials occur as often as they seem to be
needed by our students.
Now, as to the second point, — the preparation to train
others. In physiology, students study the laws of waste and
nutrition ; in psychology, they learn something of the interde-
pendence of mind and matter (soul and body) ; in gymnastics,
they should learn how to keep the body in tune with the soul,
so that both may grow together and neither be a drag upon the
other.
Of course the first thing is to know how to care for one's self.
But one needs more than this. He should place the right value
upon physical training. He should even be enthusiastic over
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
9
it. I remember going out from the Oswego Normal School
with some good ideas regarding personal hygiene ; but I had
no enthusiasm for physical training, and I cannot remember
that I ever did anything as a teacher to arouse any enthusiasm
on the part of my pupils. How many graduates of normal
schools ever do ? Why is this so ? Gymnastics have been and
are too formal and lacking in adaptability. A course in gym-
nastics is worked out, and an attempt is made to fit the same
to children, regardless of their interests. The course is not
such as one would carry to every little country school. It is
lacking in spontaneity and adaptability. Children soon tire of
formal gymnastics, and look upon the lesson as a task. Gym-
nastics should have the same character as the play of children.
Students should look forward to them as a restful treat, and
enter into them with zeal and enthusiasm. They get this spirit
in the colleges now, and we are getting a little of it in the pri-
mary schools. We even see glimpses of it in the normal
schools, but we need more of it. One of the problems before
us is the adapting of games appropriate for all grades in our
schools. Less formal Avork, more informal, should be the cry.
The teacher of physical culture has a duty outside the gym-
nasium. She needs to keep in touch with students, to be a
leader in sports, to be with them in their games ; not to sup-
press and cast a shadow on everything, but to encourage, to
put a glow and enthusiasm into games, walks and all physical
out-door and in-door exercise. She needs to hunt for taking
games to be played in the house and on the grounds. Too
often the physical director is a non-resident, and her influence
is not felt outside the gymnasium. Too often the teacher holds
herself aloof from the plays of the children ; she must stay in
the schoolroom to put work on the board, correct papers, or
even to watch pupils who are losing their recess, — to act as
jailer over them. How much better if those same teachers were
out leading the plays, getting rosy cheeks themselves, and
dreading as much as the children to hear the bell ring ! How
quickly a new bond of sympathy would spring up between
teacher and pupils ! How much better they would understand
each other ! That noted saying of Froebel, " Come, let us live
with our children," is as applicable in the higher grades of
school as in the kindergarten. It should be the motto for every
10
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
teacher of physical training, and every teacher should be a
teacher of physical training.
Recess has been displaced in many places by brief physical
exercises within the schoolroom. School appears more man-
nerly, more subdued, more orderly. There is not so much
chance for immorality on the school grounds. But how about
the physical condition of the children? Are we heeding the
wise admonition of Professor Tyler, and giving Mother Nature
a fair chance to develop the chick? Could not all of the objec-
tions to a recess be overcome if teachers would play with their
children ?
We are trying to show our normal students how to play with
the children in the schoolroom and on the school grounds. I
hope for great changes in the physical conditions, and hence
great improvement in the whole character and spirit of the work
in the public schools from efforts along this line.
It has been customary for nations and individuals to advance
in civilization for two or three generations, and then to become
effeminate, and give way to their less civilized but more virile
neighbors. We are rapidly coming to the conception of a
man who keeps himself in such good physical condition that he
can do his mental work well and transmit a strong body to his
offspring ; a man who will not be obliged to give way before
the in-coming barbarians. May we not hope that civilization
will thus advance more steadily and with ever-increasing strides
toward a well-rounded, perfect manhood?
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
V
PHYSICS and CHEMISTRY
IN NORMAL SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
LYMAN C. NEWELL, Ph.B., A.M., Ph.D.
TEACHER OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE, STATE NORMAL
SCHOOL, LOWELL, MASS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON : : MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
The Teaching of Physics and Chemistry in
Normal Schools.
The function of a normal school is to prepare its students to
teach children. Its aim as an educational institution is accom-
plished through two channels of pedagogical activity, vastly dis-
proportionate in value and inextricably interwoven. These
channels are the academic and the professional.
It is the purpose of this paper to consider the function of the
normal school only in so far as it is concerned with the subject
of physical science, viz., physics and chemistry.
The requirements for admission to the Massachusetts normal
schools largely eliminate the necessity of much outright aca-
demic instruction. Most candidates come prepared to pass the
examinations in physics and chemistry; they have some de-
scriptive knowledge and experimental skill, though the latter
is at present meagre in the case of those who come from the
small towns. When necessity demands academic work, two
points should guide the normal teacher, viz., (1) an extension
of the limits of the student's general knowledge, and (2) an
emphasis of special phases of the subject. Academic work,
even when actually demanded by the poverty of the student's
knowledge, should always be regarded as a means to an end ;
as incidental, subordinate ; as a medium for the professional
aspect of the work of instructing teachers. It is better to sacri-
fice the inadequate information of the few for the professional
development of the many. Educators, especially those con-
cerned with college work, often overestimate the actual de-
mands made upon the acquired knowledge of the teacher of
children. The latest scientific discovery in all its historical
bearing is not so valuable to her as the ability to interpret to
her pupils every-day occurrences. A knowledge of liquid air
is not so necessary as a definite conception of the physiological
functions of atmospheric oxygen.
The professional aspects of the training of teachers for work
in physics and chemistry can best be considered, if we recount
4
PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.
the equipment which may reasonably be expected of a graduate
of a normal school : —
1. She should have simplified knowledge of fundamental
principles, — a knowledge capable of being expressed in the
simplest possible language and in a logical order. Short
Anglo-Saxon words should be used in place of longer classical
derivatives. Laws and general statements should not be taken
bodily from text-books, but remodelled into short, concise
sentences, free from all words too technical for a child to
understand. Such a desirable modification - can be made,
though text-book writers do not seem to realize its possibility
or necessity.
2. The normal school graduate should have usable teaching
materials, a stock in trade, — some tangible result of the State's
and her own investment. Her note book should contain an
outlined course in physics and in chemistry, arranged in a more
or less elastic manner, so that separate portions may be used
by themselves, and the whole course quickly modified to meet
the demands of different local conditions. This course should
be richly annotated, showing what must be taken, what may
be omitted, what must be illustrated by experiment, what is
adapted to home study, what needs explanatory diagrams, what
needs extra reading, — in short, a complete outline, ready for
immediate use. Her notes should also contain numberless
verbal illustrations of principles, — the applications of scientific
principles to common things. Her tangible material should also
contain some simple apparatus, detachable diagrams to illustrate
obscure facts, one good book in each science the contents of
which are known.
3. She should have a knowledge of sources of information
relating to physics and chemistry: e.g., what magazines con-
tain accurate and interesting scientific articles ; what larger
books and dictionaries are reliable ; what scientific institutions
are available, and what collections they contain ; what factories,
shops and establishments admit visitors ; what scientific asso-
ciations are available, when they meet and what they publish,
etc.
4. She should have ability to impart her knowledge. This
requisite, to be sure, should be possessed by all teachers, what-
ever their subject. Science, however, must be imparted with
PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.
5
certain guiding ideas. It must not be given dogmatically, and
yet it cannot always be illustrated by experiment. Nature must
be the final authority, and yet reiteration must clear the mental
path. Science is often intangible, appeals solely to reason, keen
judgment, common sense. Experiments often tell the whole
story ; but there is a limited opportunity for experimental work
in the grades, hence the normal graduate must be able to con-
vince her pupils not so much by historical data as by appeals
to reason made by repetition in many forms.
5. She should have a specific knowledge of those portions of
physical science which correlate with subjects in the grammar
school curriculum. The actual subject-matter which is to be
the vehicle of the professional training of the would-be teacher
must be chosen with the utmost care. Few schools teach
physics and chemistry as distinct sciences. All schools, how-
ever, teach subjects closely related to physical science as we
have defined it, — subjects which utilize many facts and prin-
ciples which are distinctly physical. Such, for example, are
geography, physiology, and much of the inorganic part of
nature study. Hence the normal graduate must have been
taught in her work, if she is to handle these subjects success-
fully, those portions of physics and chemistry which are the
foundations of the physical and chemical aspects of the subjects
in question. The atmosphere, for example, presents certain
aspects which are physical and chemical. The pressure of the
atmosphere, its relation to rain, fog, dew, etc., its connection
with pumps, its constituents and their functions, — all these
and similar phenomena belong to physics and chemistry, yet
they are taught usually in the geography, physiology or ge-
ology. The teacher who brings her physics and chemistry to
bear on the above sciences is certainly a better teacher than the
perfunctory dispenser of second-hand facts. This specific in-
struction must be a judicious combination of the academic and
professional, and is accomplished by the normal teacher by
such methods and material as time, judgment and skill permit.
All instruction in physical science should create a love for
nature, for without that love no one can interpret the manifold
manifestations of nature. A teacher with a scientific spirit
will see and hear the stories nature tells, and will interpret
them sweetly and clearly to her pupils.
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
VI
THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH
IN THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS
LAURA A. KNOTT, A. M.
TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN THE STATE NOR-
MAL SCHOOL, LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON : : MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
Normal School English, as based: upon .the
Work in the State Normal School
at Lowell, Mass.
Part L — The Normal School Proper.
1. Planning a Course of Study.
The dangers which beset the normal school teacher'.in plan-
ning a course of study are peculiar. The mission of such a
school is of course distinctively that of preparing young men
and women for the profession of teaching ; hence each step of
the work should be planned in the light of that purpose. All
good teaching, however, involves two essentials, — knowledge
of what to teach and of how to teach it, — subject-matter and
method. If we lay undue emphasis upon the former, to the
neglect of the latter, we are simply advanced high schools, not
professional schools ; giving our students little if any more
insight into the profession of teaching than into that of the
law, of medicine or of dentistry. To this class belonged that
teacher of literature in a New England normal school a few
years ago, who spent a whole year with her class in studying a
single one of Shakespere's plays. The culture value of this
work was doubtless considerable, yet it may well be believed
that a year's work might have been planned for these students
which would have increased their efficiency as teachers to a far
greater extent.
On the other hand, if the second phase of normal school
work be unduly emphasized, the study becomes mere method-
ology ; which might be pardonable, even advisable, if normal
school students brought with them wide scholarship and a
thorough mastery of the subjects they are to teach. But they
do not, and probably will not for some years to come. Many
normal schools are accused, and with reason, of sending their
graduates forth with a large equipment of very faultless methods
4
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
for teaching subjects of which they are in almost total ignorance.
It is a mere truism to say that one cannot teach that which he
does not know ; that thorough and accurate knowledge of the
subject is the first requisite for teaching it well.
In preparing the course of study here outlined, I have en-
deavored to avoid both the Scylla and Charybdis indicated.
While fully appreciating the fact that my work is to prepare
students to teach English in the public schools of the State, I
have not hesitated to add some phases of work largely for their
culture value to the students themselves, believing that noth-
ing which can be done to broaden the mental horizon, quicken
thought, stimulate effort toward wider attainment and elevate
the entire being can fail to result in increased teaching power.
After all, what we teach and how we teach depend largely upon
what we are. The more of knowledge, the more of culture and
the more of character we bring to our work of teaching, the
finer and higher will be that work.
2. Subjects included ix the Course.
The distinctive subjects of the course in English in this
school are : English and American literature, English gram-
mar, orthoepy, composition and methods in English. Ehetoric
is taught only in connection with literature ; composition by
means of written work in all the subjects indicated, and by
weekly themes during a certain part of the course. (For a
tabulated view of the course of study, showing time allotment,
etc., the reader is referred to the closing pages of this mono-
graph.)
3. Literature.
This subject is confined to the junior year, where it occupies
four periods per week of forty minutes each during most of the
year. We spend the first half-year with the American authors,
eight or nine of the most important being studied. Then, turn-
ing to British literature, we begin with Chaucer, a glance only
having been siven at Beowulf and other pre-Chaucerian litera-
ture. Thence we speed in seven-league boots down the cent-
uries, choosing what will best suit our purpose. Though most
attention is given to poetry, since this is the highest form of
literature, we spend considerable time in the study of essays.
Young students can be taught genuinely to enjoy Emerson,
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
5
Matthew Arnold, Bacon and other essayists ; and it seems
worth while to employ a good deal of time in this manner,
since the average student does not find her way unaided to
the treasures stored up in this seemingly unattractive form.
We also aim to include one novel, that we may learn more of
the nature of this most popular form of literature, something
of its origin and development, and may form plans for its
future study.
A word as to the reasons for arranging the course in this
way. We begin with American literature rather than British,
and give so large an allowance of time to the former, for the
following reasons : the literature our students are to teach in
the future will be largely from these authors. It is well to
get them, in the very beginning, into the habit of looking at
each selection from the teacher's point of view. Knowing that
they themselves may soon teach the very poem under discus-
sion in class, the closest attention is secured; the student sees
herself in imagination attempting to present the same to her
own class. The practical nature of the work appeals to her.
Furthermore, it is by the study of these simple yet beautiful
things that the class can best be led, step by step, to the sym-
pathetic appreciation of the more subtle beauties of the loftier
and grander poetry. Too often students read with the intellect
alone. Their sensibilities are not brought into play. They
seem to be out of harmony with the spiritual. Talk to them of
the beauties of Wordsworth, and, while their assent is given, it
does not come from the heart. They need to have their spirit-
ual eyes opened. When one enters upon work with such a
class as this, the first thing to be done is to help to open these
spiritual eyes. The class must be made responsive. They
need training in imagination , the power 4 6 to body forth the
forms of things unknown," as Wordsworth puts it.
The eyes thou givest me are in the heart,
And heed not space or time,
says Lowell in his poem "To the Dandelion;" and Words-
worth again in " The Daffodils," —
For oft when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon my inward eye,
Which is the bliss of solitude.
6
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
Too much time and effort can hardly be given to the culti-
vation of this ' 'inward eye." Imagination is man's supreme
faculty, yet how little the schools do to train it ! " When thou
readest, look steadfastly with the mind at the things the words
symbolize. If there be a question of mountains, let them loom
before thee ; if of the ocean, let its billows roll before thy eyes.
This habit will give to thy voice pliancy and meaning." My
aim is to so train my students that they cannot pass over an
allusion to mountain, sky or river with unseeing eyes ; to the
song of birds, the sound of bells or the murmur of streams with
unhearing ears ; or over an exquisite bit of poetic diction or a
beautiful sentiment with unfeeling hearts. I know of no better
way to accomplish this than to begin with the simple poems of
the American authors, — Whittier's " Snow-Bound," Bryant's
" To a Water-fowl," Holmes's " Chambered Nautilus," Lowell's
' 4 Vision of Sir Launfal," Longfellow's ' < Evangeline," Emerson's
' ' Rhodora," and others of a similar nature. As we thoughtfully
and earnestly consider each poem, not for ourselves alone, but
for the sake of the children who are to be made to love it by
and by, a new purpose in the study of literature is developed.
The question now uppermost in the student's mind is, How
could I make a class of children understand and We this poem,
how make them feel its beauty, how bring its spiritual truth
home to their hearts and lives ? The finer natures in the class
respond eagerly to the suggestion, even the more stolid and
indifferent wake up, the interest steadily grows, an increasing
desire is felt by all to grasp the author's thought thoroughly
and to enter fully into his experience. As it is more blessed
to give than to receive, so the study of literature brings twice
the enjoyment when we realize that through us others are to be
brought into communion with the master spirits.
We study literature, not to confute, not to find fault, but to
see beauty, to gain insight, to increase our ability to enjoy.
So we find ourselves rapidly gaining in the power to appreciate
what is finest and best in literature. What may once have
been vague sentiment is changed to intelligent appreciation^
instinctive feeling becomes positive assurance.
We regretfully leave our American authors, whom we have
come to know so intimately and to love so much. But Ave
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
7
have acquired a power in the study of literature which will
prove most valuable in the study of the more difficult British
authors. Our work in Chaucer, Shake spere, Bacon, Milton
and most of the older writers has no direct bearing upon the
teaching of literature to children ; but, as I have said, there is
a place in the normal school curriculum for " culture subjects.'
In the study of Wordsworth, Tennyson, Macaulay, Ruskin and
other modern authors, the work again has a direct " pedagogic"
value.
4. Mythology.
In addition to the work indicated, we spend, in the junior
year, about three weeks in the study of mythology. Litera-
ture is full of allusions to classic myths, and this fact alone
would entitle the subject to a place in the course of study.
But there are additional reasons why it should have a place in
a normal school curriculum. The students are shown some-
thing of the origin and nature of myths, their deep spiritual
significance, embodying, as they frequently do, the ethical
experience of the race ; and they are led to see their special
adaptation to the needs of the child, who, living as he does in
the golden age of fancy, instinctively loves the tales that were
told when the race was young. Our text-book is Gayley's
"Classic Myths," and we find Fiske's < < Myths and Myth-
Makers" extremely helpful in the interpretation of myths.
5. Book Reports.
Our book-report days, which come once a month during both
senior and junior years, are perhaps the pleasantest and most
helpful times w r e spend together. Each student keeps a record
of her reading, and at the end of each month a recitation is set
apart for a discussion of the books read. As the students pass
into the class-room, each places her list on the teacher's desk.
One after another is then called upon, each to talk to the class
for a few minutes about some book on her list called for by the
teacher, the latter supplementing the remarks of the student
with comments and suggestions about future reading. If this
plan is to be judged by its results, it is successful to an eminent
degree, and worthy of being tried in every school. It is found
to be a powerful means of stimulating and directing the reading
8
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
of the entire school. Though none of the reading is compul-
sory, students being absolutely free to choose what they like,
or to choose nothing at all, it can truthfully be said that there
is no student in either senior or junior class who is not doing
a fair amount of reading, and that of the best books. The
reading of the vast majority is all that could be desired,
both in quantity and quality. Though, as I have said, students
are left perfectly free to read what they like, they are given
many helpful suggestions, in the form of lists of books placed
on the board from time to time, and incidental remarks about
certain books suggested by the lesson of the hour. When the
names of "trashy" books appear on the students' reports, as
they do in quite large numbers the first months of the junior
year, no attention is paid to them ; the students are not asked
to say anything about them. None but books of real worth
are ever discussed in the class. Thus it is believed that the
difference between good books and poor ones will make itself
felt, and that the student will discover that she has no time to
read empty, useless books, while so many of real value and of
far greater interest remain unread. Nothing can be more grat-
ifying or encouraging than to notice the gradual disappearance
of the weak and purposeless sort of books from the reports
as the class goes on, and the substitution of those of genuine
value.
I give below a book report, selected at random from those
handed in by the senior class. This, of course, embraces the
reading for one month.
Henry Esmond, ..... Thackeray.
Sweetness and Light, .... Matthew Arnold.
The Happy Life, .... President Eliot.
Essay on Self-reliance, . . . Emerson.
Parts of "The Boy's King Arthur," . Lanier.
Poems by Stevenson and Field.
6. Authoe Books.
Students are encouraged to make collections of pictures which
would be useful to them in the teaching of literature and lan-
guage, and to mount these as artistically as possible. Pictures
of authors and their homes naturally have the largest place in
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
9
these collections. Each student is required to make one " au-
thor book." This is usually a book of pictures, and quotations
appropriate to the pictures, all bearing upon the life and works
of a single author, as Longfellow, Hawthorne, Eugene Field,
Tennyson. Excellent taste and genuine artistic ability are fre-
quently shown in this work.
7. Orthoepy.
The work in this subject includes a thorough drill in the ele-
mentary sounds of our language and the diacritical marking of
words, Webster's system being the one followed. Such a
knowledge is indispensable to one who would teach reading in
the primary grades, where, whatever the system in vogue, the
subject of phonetics invariably occupies a large place. It is
hardly less necessary to the teacher in the grammar school, for
a thorough knowledge of the sounds of the letters gives inde-
pendence in the recognition and pronunciation of new words,
— a power sadly needed in most grammar schools. Moreover,
the surest way to secure distinct enunciation and correct pro-
nunciation on the part of the children is to make them con-
scious of the sound elements which enter into the words which
they use.
8. English Grammar.
This subject occupies two periods per week during two-thirds
of the senior year. The text-book used is Wisely's "New
English Grammar," supplemented by Whitney & Lockwood's
" Grammar." Whitney's " Essentials of English " is our most
valued reference book, and students have access to many other
standard works on the subject.
Since the purpose of all grammatical study is to enable the
pupil to understand the nature of the sentence and the laws
which underlie its construction, and since the sole use of a
sentence is to express a thought, the student is first given
some knowledge of the thought process. . She examines her
own mind ; she finds out how she thinks ; she discovers that
the three elements necessarily present in every thought or
judgment get themselves expressed in the threefold nature of
the sentence, with its subject, predicate and copula. She
learns the various kinds or classes of ideas which the mind
10
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
uses in its thinking, the nature of each, and its expression in
the form of a word. In short, we base our study of grammar
upon the elements of logic. Says Dr. C. C. Everett of Har-
vard College: 44 Certainly, while logic derives such help from
grammar, the reverse should be done, and our grammars placed
upon a direct logical footing."
This subject should not be a study of 4 'dry bones," — the
least interesting study in the elementary school curriculum, as
it too often is. All meaningless and formal memoiy work
should be banished. It is our aim to make the student as far
as possible independent of text-books. She gets her facts at
first hand, by the 44 laboratory method," examining a great
variety of sentences with reference to the point under discus-
sion, drawing her own conclusions, making her own rules.
The work is thus mainly inductive, and the student constructs
the subject for herself. She sees that there would be a science
of grammar, even if no text-book on the subject had ever been
written.
The chief reason for studying English grammar is not so
much that it teaches us to speak and write correctly, — one
might do that who had never even heard of the subject, — but
that it helps us to think logically and accurately, and it teaches
us to interpret the thoughts of others. It does, of course, en-
able us to test the accuracy of our speech and to correct any
errors we may discover. 44 Grammar defines and fixes speech ;
by its mastery man obtains the first mastery over his mind as
an instrument. . . . It is the key to all that is spiritual," says
Dr. Harris.
9. Methods in English.
This subject occupies two days per week during six months
of the senior year, and includes a study of methods of teaching
literature and reading, grammar, language and composition.
In all of these subjects, of course, lesson plans are written and
discussed, and books and magazine articles by successful teach-
ers are studied. The work is made more practical by reason
of visits to our model school, made under careful supervision,
where it often happens that a lesson is given by the regular
teacher of the room on the subject just studied by the class.
We employ a number of books that are found very helpful in
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
11
this work, among them Miss Spalding's "Problem of Compo-
sition Teaching," Miss Mitchell's "Hints on Teaching Read-
ing," McMurry's "Special Method in Reading," and Bright-
" Graded Lessons in English." We have a large collection of
books containing literature suitable for children, and the nature
of our work is such that students must familiarize themselves
with most of these books. Each senior is expected to make cer-
tain collections of children's literature, as, for example, stories
and poems for each of the four seasons.
Little or no classmate teaching is done in literature, for I
have never been able to secure results which seemed to justify
the expenditure of time. I have no fault to find with those
who advocate such teaching in other subjects ; perhaps in some
of them it is the best way of teaching pupils how to teach.
But I am sure that this is not and cannot be true of literature.
Such teaching is done under conditions more or less artificial
and unreal. The would-be teacher is teaching her peers, pre-
sumably those of her own intellectual capacity and attainments
in all respects. She is teaching for the sake of teaching, not
for the sake of imparting knowledge, of which fact she is so
conscious that her work is almost sure to be mechanical ; and
mechanical work in literature is not only useless, it is soul-
destroying, — absolutely unpardonable at any time or under
any circumstances. In order to really teach, one must have
the inspiration which comes from feeling that she knows some-
thing that the class do not know, and ought to know, — are
perhaps eager to know. This gives an incentive which often
brings out latent power ; the teacher surprises even herself by
the skill which she develops..
Another reason why I do not employ classmate teaching is,
that I love literature too much to be willing to do so. I can-
not allow a beautiful poem to be so handled in my presence
that the fragile flower is crushed, the bloom and delicate loveli-
ness taken from it, that which should have been a thing of
beauty and a joy forever made commonplace and trite. In re-
ply, it may be said that this is just what will happen when the
pupil-teacher first attempts to teach the poem to a class of
children, hence the need of just this practice. Even if this
were true, I should still say, Let the practising be done in the
12
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
practice school, with a real class of children, under natural
conditions. But it is not necessarily true. The same student
who makes a miserable failure in teaching "The Chambered
Nautilus" to her classmates, may, as she stands before her own
class of children and looks into their eager faces, catch the in-
spiration of the occasion. She thinks of the unknown future
which awaits each, of the perils that beset the way, and a long-
ing comes over her so to teach this lesson that the poet's
message,
Build thee more stately mansions, my soul,
As the swift seasons roll,
may speak to each child heart, and fill it with high aspirations,
— aspirations which may go far toward widening and deepen-
ing the life and keeping it pure and true. "Who shall say that
under such circumstances the pupil-teacher may not develop a
skill utterly wanting as she faces her own classmates ?
I have dwelt upon this matter of classmate teaching at some
length, because it is a subject concerning which the most
widely differing opinions are held, some even going so for as
to hold that only in so far as we employ this form of instruc-
tion are we doing professional work with our students, — which
opinion, I hardly need say, appears to me not only very nar-
row, but extremely absurd.
10. Main Principles in the Teaching of Literature.
In closing this phase of the work, let me touch upon some
of the main principles in the teaching of literature, which I
would like to have become fixed in the mind of every pupil : —
(1) There can be no study plan or teaching plan which can
be made to fit all pieces of literature. No two can be taught
in just the same way ; nor do any two teachers, if they have
individuality and originality, teach the same selection in the
same way. Instead of seeking for some one plan, we should
have a thousand plans. The wise teacher is on the alert as
she prepares to teach a literary gem, looking closely to see
how she can best make it appeal to the minds of the class.
One chief difference between the good teacher and the poor
teacher of literature is that the former has the power of seiz-
ing at once upon the salient points of the lesson, and getting
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
13
them in an interesting way before the class. She compre-
hends the pupil's point of view, knows how to clear up diffi-
culties, understands how to bring out the beauty and impress
the spiritual truth, — not always by means of questions, some-
times only by comments which show her sympathy with the
author's thought and her appreciation of the beauty of his
work. The poor teacher often does not know how to approach
the poem; she cannot think of anything to ask about it, — it
seems so intangible and hard to sret hold of. It is intangible
and hard to get hold of, — so different from arithmetic, natural
science or even history. All the more reason, then, why it
should have a method of its own, and should not be dependent
upon those designed for other subjects. Teachers should be
careful not to fall into the habit of teaching one kind of litera-
ture only, as, for example, narration, which is the easiest form
to teach. The progressive and conscientious teacher will not
allow her children to be deprived of the privilege of studying
fine prose, just because she happens to prefer poetry ; nor of
ballads, legends and the more stirring kinds of literature, just
because she finds her greatest enjoyment in poetry of reflection
and sentiment. We should make ourselves skilful in teaching
all these forms of literature.
(2) The first essential of success in teaching this, as all other
subjects, is a thorough mastery of the lesson of the hour. One
must have it at one's finger-ends. The elementary school
teachers who fulfil this requirement are rare, largely because
they teach too many subjects to give to each the careful prep-
aration it requires. With some, however, it is because of a
lack of interest in the subject, — perhaps because of want of
early literary training. We cannot make others see the beau-
ties of literature and enjoy them, unless we first see and enjoy
them ourselves.
(3) Whatever the method of procedure, the study of the
lesson must be thorough. "Infants, it is said," writes Mr.
Manly of Brown University, ' ' have been known to manifest
delight at hearing the ' Paradise Lost ' read aloud ; and scarcely
different or higher is the pleasure of those who, under the delu-
sion that they are reading poetry, allow a stream of melodious
sounds and lovely images to sweep through minds which only
14
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
catch now and then a half meaning as it gleams through the
mist of laziness and stupidity." Everything which obstructs the
pupil's view, which stands between him and the author's mean-
ing, must be cleared away. The teacher is to act as mediator
between the child and the author. The literature may be
trusted to take care of itself, if this contact is made ; but
unless the teacher is watchful, unless she has a very sympa-
thetic comprehension of the child's point of view, she will as-
sume that he understands many things which are in reality very
hazy to him. We all remember the story that went the rounds
of the press a short time ago, of the little girl whose teacher
asked the class to illustrate, by means of drawings, the things
suggested to them by their literature lesson, 4 4 The Old Oaken
Bucket." On this little girl's paper were three circles, evi-
dently intended to represent buckets. "Why did you draw
three buckets? " asked the teacher. 44 Oh, one is the old oaken
bucket, one is the iron-bound bucket and one the moss-covered
bucket." 4 ' And what are all these little dots ? " 44 Why, those
are the loved spots that my infancy knew." Every teacher of
children knows that this story might be true, whether it is or
not ; and many a teacher would find children in her class in as
deplorable a state of ignorance as this little girl, if certain
searching questions happened to light in the right place.
(4) The self-activity of the pupils must be aroused. They
must do their own thinking. We have had too much, espe-
cially these last few years, of that kind of teaching in which
the teacher does all the work, the children being merely passive
receptacles, into which she pours, or thinks she pours, the
requisite amount of information. A literature lesson, if well
taught, should arouse self-activity to the highest degree. It
should exact the keenest observation on the part of the pupils,
it should demand reflection, close reasoning, the tracing out of
cause and effect relations, the relation of part to part and of
each part to the whole. Often both teacher and class come to
the work in a languid frame of mind. No vigorous thinking is
done ; words are passed over without their real significance
being perceived. Figures of speech are only glanced at, the
real grounds for the comparison not being seen. Historical
and mythological allusions are neglected. The story or poem
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
15
appears merely as a succession of disconnected parts, no at-
tempt being made to cause the children to grasp the beauty and
significance of the whole. If the teacher will only keep the
class interested, wide awake, thinking, eager to answer, the
reading lesson can be made not only the most delightful hour
of the day, but it can be made the means of most valuable
mental discipline. Moreover, in all the grades except the very
lowest the reading and literature lessons should be carefully
prepared by the children before the recitation. Too much can-
not be said in criticism of the method, prevalent in so many
schools of to-day, of beginning the recitation without any pre-
vious study on the part of the class. This is often done in the
highest grammar grades, not only in literature, but in all sub-
jects ; thus the pupils are deprived of the one most precious
thing which the schools might have given them, — the power
of independent study, the ability to apply one's self to a task,
whether pleasant or otherwise, and master it. The schools of
a generation ago, with all their faults, did not have this one.
They did develop in their pupils the power of doing hard work,
whether they liked it or not. The teachings of Herbart in re-
gard to this matter have been so misunderstood and so misap-
plied that the inevitable reaction has at last set in, and we may
hope for much better things in the future.
(5) Literature is one of the fine arts, and thus appeals to
the sense of beauty. ' 'Beauty is its own excuse for being,"
Emerson tells us; but, whether we believe in 4 'art for art's
sake " or not, we will all agree that, unless we see and feel the
beauty of a poem, the truth which it conveys is lost upon us.
Every fine literary work possesses excellence both of form and
of content. Not only must there be something worth saying,
but the poet must give us pleasure in the saying of it, must
clothe his thought in beautiful form. No purpose in the study
of literature in the schools is so great as the development of
character. Yet, if we talk of the moral of a beautiful poem,
we belittle it ; we make it seem commonplace. We can best
implant the lesson it teaches by making its beauty appeal
strongly to the class. But I have sometimes heard teachers
say, ' 4 Is not the lesson the poem teaches the greatest thing for
the child? " Yes, it is ; and therefore we must be sure he gets
1-6
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
the lesson. Children of spirit do not like to he preached to.
It is generally best not to let them know we are trying to teach
them a lesson. It is so easy to overdo the moral, as the Sun-
day-school book so often does. I doubt whether we ever ought
to speak of the " moral" of a poem or story, or the 4 'lesson"
it teaches ; there are so much better ways of impressing this
" underlying suggestiveness of higher things," by discussions
of the right or wrong of certain acts, by holding up to admira-
tion noble characters read about, and a thousand other ways
which the teacher who loves literature and also loves children
will find. Says Dr. W. T. Harris, United States Commis-
sioner of Education: "There is an ethical and an aesthetical
content to each work of art. It is profitable to point out both
of these in the interest of the child's growing insight into human
nature. The ethical should, however, be kept in subordination
to the aesthetical, but for the sake of the supreme interests of
the ethical itself. Otherwise the study of a work of art degen-
erates into a goody-goody performance, and its effects on the
child are to cause a reaction against the moral."
It would be well, too, if teachers oftener had that fineness
of instinct which makes them see that there are poems, or pas-
sages in some poems, on which no questions whatever should
be asked. Of this nature seems to me to be Tennyson's
"Crossing the Bar:" another is Whittier's allusion to his
younger sister in " Snow-Bound," in which occur these sur-
passingly touching lines, —
And while in life's late afternoon,
Where cool and loug the shadows grow,
I walk to meet the night that soon
Shall shape and shadow overflow,
I cannot feel that thou art far,
Since near at need the angels are ;
And when the sun-set gates unbar,
Shall I not see thee waiting stand,
And, white against the evening star,
The welcome of thy beckoning hand?
In such passages as this, so great is the elevation of feeling
and so overpowering the emotion that any questioning seems
entirely out of place. There are some things which can only
be felt. Yet I have known young teachers who, conscien-
tiously desiring that no passage should be obscure to the haziest
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
17
intellects in the class, would ask impertinent and belittling
questions where nothing more than sympathetic and reverent
comment could be tolerated.
(6) Mr. Samuel Thurber says that "the first consideration
of success in teaching literature is that the teacher know her
subject intimately, and be ever coming to know it more and
more intimately ; the second requisite is that she be a good
reader. The teacher who can read well has the power to
recommend beautiful literature by simply reading it." Educa-
tors are coming to lay more and more emphasis upon this
power of being able to read intelligently and sympathetically.
It is a power which any one can attain by a little effort, and it
is an acquisition the value of which to the teacher can hardly
be over-estimated.
(7) Lastly, the pupils must be made to love the literature
which they study. Some teachers seem to aim vaguely at in-
spiring this love for literature ; yet somehow the class did not
enjoy to-day's lesson, nor yesterday's. It reminds one, to use
a simile employed by a recent writer on the subject, of the
White Queen in "Alice in Wonderland," who had "jam yes-
terday and jam to-morrow, but never jam to-day." Some sub-
jects may be beneficial, though no pleasure is taken in them ;
but not so of literature. If the child has not been made to
enjoy the literature he has studied, the teaching has been a
failure so far as he is concerned ; and of this subject it may be
truthfully said that any teaching which makes it thoroughly
understood and enjoyed is good teaching.
11. Cultivate a Taste, for the Best in Literature.
It seems to me that the very best thing which the teacher of
literature can do for the pupil-teachers of the normal school is
to cultivate in them a taste for what is fine and ennobling in
literature, and to give them as wide as possible a survey of the
fields in which it is found, so that they may not only know
what has been written that will be helpful to them and to the
children they are to teach, but where to look for it. They should
be given the highest possible conception of the teacher's work
and privileges ; they should see that the most powerful influence
which the school can wield against ignorance and weakness and
sin is the teaching of noble literature by an earnest and high-
18 NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
minded teacher. Above all, if they can carry with them from
the normal school something — shall we call it inspiration ? —
which will bid them be true to these high ideals, which will
arm them against the false standards, the narrowness, the sor-
didness so often met with even in this noblest of all profes-
sions ; if they can take something with them which, in the
words of Browning, bids " nor sit, nor stand, but go ! " — who
doubts that the question of methods will largely take care of
itself?
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
19
Part II. — The Model School.
1. English in the Elementary Schools.
[It may be necessary to explain that our model school con-
sists of the nine grades below the high school, each room being
in charge of a regular teacher. Each line of work in this school
is under the supervision of the head of the department of the
corresponding line of work in the normal school proper.]
According to the report of the Committee of Ten, the main
objects of teaching English in the elementary schools are two : —
(1) To enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts
of others, and to give expression to thoughts of his own.
(2) To cultivate a taste for reading, to give the pupil some
acquaintance with good literature, and to furnish him with the
means of extending that acquaintance.
I think this statement cannot be improved upon. Some one
has said of the study of English (and the same would apply to
the vernacular of any nation) : "It is the only branch of which
we may say that all the pupils will find all they have learned
in it of positive practical value at all periods of their lives."
Whatever else is abridged-, whatever else is crowded out to
make room for the host of new subjects which are clamoring
for admittance to the curriculum, English must be dealt with
very generously if we would secure the highest and most sym-
metrical development of the child.
2. English Grammar, Composition and Language.
Most of our grammar work is done in the eighth and ninth
grades, though in the two grades below some of the more
elementary facts of the subject are taken up ; for example, the
children are taught to recognize the different parts of speech,
20
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
but are not expected to make logical, definitions of these. It is
not necessary that a child in the sixth or seventh grade should
be able to define every tiling about which he has any ideas, but
it is important that he should not be taught wrong definitions,
which he will have to un-learn later. Here most attention is
given to the art rather than to the science of correct speech.
In all the lower grades the aim should of course be to have the
children write and speak correctly rather than know the reason
why certain forms of speech are correct rather than others.
In these early years, when habits good and bad are so easily
acquired, it is all-important that correct habits of speech be
formed. Therefore every lesson should be in a sense a lan-
guage lesson, and writing should be done in connection with
all subjects. It is extremely important that a sufficient amount
of this work should be marked by the teacher and corrected by
the pupil, to insure a fair degree of progress on the part of
each child. It is an extremely difficult problem to determine
the maximum amount of such work which the teacher can do
without detriment to her other work ; but it is so easy to slight
this work that it should be thoroughly systematized, and the
teacher should rigorously hold herself to the correction of a fair
amount of work for each child.
One of the most important principles in language teaching is
that pupils should write because they have something to say.
Therefore the language work should be correlated with various
other subjects, to secure the emotional interest needed. The
child should write about what interests him, and because he has
something to say. Uniformity in amount of writing is not
necessary ; those most deficient should write oftenest. There
is no subject in which greater variety of method is needed than
in language. Letter writing, imaginary journeys, reproduc-
tion stories, picture stories, description of plants, flowers,
fruits, and animals, are only a few of the many devices which
the skilful teacher employs. Thus the work never becomes
monotonous and tiresome to the children.
Teachers should remember that no amount of cramming of
rules and definitions is going to make children speak correctly.
They do not get their language by any such artificial means ;
they imbibe it ; they acquire it by absorption. The perpetual
reading of good books is one of the most powerful means of
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
21
securing a good use of English. If the home environment
could be ideal, this most troublesome problem which the teacher
has to contend with would disappear.
As to eradicating wrong habits of speech, nothing succeeds
like personal talks with individuals. Create a receptive atti-
tude in the pupil. Get his co-operation in ridding himself of
these troublesome faults. Arouse his ambition. Make him
welcome criticism. Don't be over-critical as to style. We
want boyishness and girlishness, and this is worth far more
than any precocious conventionality of style.
Bright's "Graded Lessons in English" furnishes an outline
for our language work. We omit the grammar work outlined
in the book, substituting for it the outline found at the end of
this discussion.
The work in English grammar is practically the same as that
in the normal school, the chief difference being that no text-
book is in the hands of the pupils, and the work is of a much
more elementary nature. Any discussion of the system at this
point would only be a repetition of what has already been said.
The plan of basing the grammar work upon some of the most
elementary facts of logic has justified itself by an increased
power to think and reason on the part of the pupils, an inde-
pendence in working out rules, principles and definitions for
themselves, and a much greater interest in the subject.
3. Spelling.
The importance of this subject in the schools no one attempts
to deny. Whether it be the fault of the "word method," as
jnany claim, or not, it certainly is a fact that the generation
now growing up is a generation of poor spellers. I think the
fault lies not with present methods, but with the crowded course
of study. If twice the number of subjects are taught that were
a few years ago, how can they be taught with equal thorough-
ness? Some of us can recall the splendid drill in spelling
which we had, — it is hardly too much to say that we put hours
on the subject where the children to-day put minutes. It is no
wonder we became good spellers ; and, if we want the children
in our schools to become proficient in this most necessary art,
we will have to find time somehow in our crowded program to
give the subject the attention it deserves.
22
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
4. Literature and Reading-.
No distinction should be made between these subjects. If
we take DeQuincey's famous classification of books into "liter-
ature for information" and "literature for inspiration," our
course will be found to consist almost wholly of the latter. It
is not difficult to justify this choice. Most of the other sub-
jects of the course are " information subjects." There is noth-
ing to be said against the education which informs and instructs.
It is essential, and must constitute a large part of the training
of every systematically educated person. But it is not enough ;
there is something beyond it. The child has needs which it
does not satisfy. It is not sufficiently rich in ethical incen-
tives ; it does not inspire. " Literature is soul food as well as
mind food ; useful information does not nourish the soul," said
the good and wise Professor Child. I would not be thought
to hold, however, that literature is the only subject that in-
spires ; history, for example, certainly possesses this quality in
a high degree ; but most educators would admit that literature
is pre-eminent in this respect.
A large majority of the children who leave school at an
early age to begin their work in the world carry with them no
genuine love of books, no power to read them with enjoyment,
no plan for their study ; they do not know what has been
written ; they have no desire to know. The greatest av r enue
of enjoyment is closed to them, probably forever. Something
might have been done to put some touches of brightness and
beauty into lives that will have, it is to be feared, far more of
shadow than sunshine in them. Such children usually come
from bookless homes. Their only chance of coming into pos-
session of their literary inheritance is through the schools.
Looking these facts in the face, how can any public school
teacher fail to use every means in her power to open up to the
children under her care the vast treasures found in books ?
I have spoken only of the class of children who leave school
early, and are supposed to do the drudgery of the world. But
what has literature for all ? What is its contribution to the life
of the child, — its " educational value"?
(1) We are told that the study of mathematics develops the
reasoning power ; that natural science cultivates the powers of
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
23
observation, — both of which claims are entirely just. But,
if space permitted, I should like to show that literature, when
properly taught, is a powerful ally of these subjects in devel-
oping the same powers.
(2) The study of literature helps the child to understand
human nature. The poet is a seer, — one who sees. He sees
into life and character more truly than other men do. He
looks through all externalities ; he lays bare the soul ; all its
longings and aspirations, its weakness and its failures are re-
vealed to us. How many people do we know as well as we
know the great characters of fiction, — Robinson Crusoe, Cin-
derella, Little Nell, Evangeline, Lady Macbeth? Through
these people of the great artists' creation we come to better un-
derstand ourselves and each other.
(3) The aesthetic influence of literature, its refining power,
can hardly be over-estimated. To live for an hour a day in the
society of the good and great, with ennobling thoughts for
companions, will leave a lasting impression on the susceptible
minds of youth. The best way to root out vulgarity and coarse-
ness is the process of "elimination by substitution." As
beautiful, gentle thoughts take possession of the child's mind,
all others are bound to retreat. "We are shaped and fash-
ioned by what we love," says Goethe.
(4) This is a material, a utilitarian age. We have gone mad
over our success in material things. As the youth goes out
into life, he will be surrounded by an environment full of
temptation to prize worldly success above all else. He will
hear every day "the maxims of a low prudence," as Emerson
puts it ; " that his first duty is to get lands and money." Now,
while we have our only chance at him, let us endeavor to im-
plant such ideals as will enable him to resist the sordidness and
meanness of the world about him, and be true to his higher
self. The right teacher will find a thousand ways to do this,
and most powerful of all is the teacher's own personal influence ;
but let her remember that she possesses no weapon more
powerful than good literature rightly taught.
(5) Not the least of the advantages derived from the study of
literature is its reaction on the pupil's own style. Many of our
greatest writers tell us that their success is due largely to their
constant and careful study of the masters of English prose.
24
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
Bunyan's matchless style came from his study of the Bible,
which he knew almost by heart, and which was his only teacher.
44 We think in words, and when we lack fit words, we lack fit
thoughts."
(6) " If I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in
stead under every variety of circumstances, be a source of hap-
piness and cheerfulness to me through life and a shield against
its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown
upon me, it would be a taste for reading. . . . Give a man
this taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly
fail of making a happy man." This thought, from Sir John
Herschel, suggests that a love of literature is an invaluable
possession, considered merely as a resource. And then we
will have to grow old some time. What is more pitiable than
old age, when it comes to one who has no resources, nothing
to fall back upon for entertainment and recreation ; whose mind
is not a rich treasure house, filled with the garnerings of a long
lifetime? It is said that Talleyrand replied to a man, who was
boasting that he had never learned to play whist, 4 'What a
miserable old age you are preparing for yourself ! " However
true this may be of whist, all lovers of books feel it to be
thoroughly true of a taste for literature.
(7) I have left the most important of the educational values
of literature until the last. After all is said, any system of
education which does not make for righteousness is a failure.
* 4 Character is higher than intellect. The great soul is strong
to live as well as to think," says Emerson. The supreme value
of the study of literature in the schools is its influence on char-
acter. No other subject is so full of ethical incentives ; no
other so fully arouses the deepest feelings of the heart, in which
lie the springs of action . Through the right study of this sub-
ject every element of manly and womanly character is strength-
ened. In no other way can we so impress upon the plastic
minds of the boys and girls lessons of truth, honor, reverence,
self-sacrifice and devotion to high principles.
Literature portrays ideals of character and conduct in such a
way that they get hold of the life. Right is made more attrac-
tive than wrong. We are made to see the beauty of holiness,
the ugliness of sin. The great writers have given us charac-
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
25
ters which are types, representing just the kind of people we
know. The situations in which they are placed involve the
difficult problems of life and furnish their solution. In the
words of Dr. Harris, 4 4 The ambition of Macbeth, the jealousy
of Othello, the indecision of Hamlet, furnish us vicarious ex-
perience of life, and widen our knowledge of self. The retri-
bution that overtakes sin and error is seen by us with purifying
effect." Aristotle taught that "Tragedy purges us of our pas-
sions, because we identify our own wrong inclinations with
those of the hero, and by sympathy we suffer with him and see
our intended deed returned upon us with tragic effect, and are
thereby cured."
Mr. Geo. B. Aiton, State inspector of the high schools of
Minnesota, in an able article on the teaching of English, in the
"School Review" for March, 1897, makes the following vig-
orous plea for the teaching of literature for its influence on
character : —
In the school-room, literature has a peculiar quality not found in
other subjects. Visiting recitations of all kinds, this comes closer
and closer home to me each year. I often fancy I can see the keen,
problem-solving, mathematical youth developing into the keeper of a
strong box, the holder of bonds, the possible wrecker of a railroad
system. There is nothing in mathematics to set him aside from such
a career. At times I fancy I see a future lawyer in the Latin class,
delighting in the turn of words, in the rulings of syntax and in the
sophistries of subjunctive reasoning. There is nothing in a Latin
course to prevent a student from becoming a skilful legal menace to
society. Young men of your acquaintance and mine leave school
anxious for place, for what it will confer on them, not for a chance
to render their fellows a service.
It won't do to preach in school ; it won't do to let the boy know
that you are deliberately trying to make him better. It is not always
wise to openly attack the abuse of public power or misconduct of
private life. The literature class gives us a chance at the boy.
Class-room sentiment is a wonderful help. The crowd has a mar-
vellous influence on the individual. Icy dispositions give way before
the genial warmth of their fellows, stubbornness becomes less stub-
born and feeble natures are carried along by the general current ;
personality is avoided. In such a mood an author is heard with
respect. His best thought is apprehended ; his teaching is direct,
26
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
positive, authoritative, potent. If those who are earnestly and
honestly calling for moral philosophy and for ethical teaching in the
schools were only discerning, they would join us in calling for
literature.
5. Study of English Classics.
As soon as the child has mastered the rudiments of reading,
he should enter upon the study of great masterpieces. These
should be continued without interruption throughout the ele-
mentary school course. There can be no possible doubt that,
when such a course is wisely planned and w r ell executed, a
child can in these years become familiar with a large part of
the world's best literature. He should carry with him, when
he leaves the grammar school, not only a taste for good books
but a considerable knowledge of the different epochs of litera-
ture, of what great books have been written, where, when and
by whom. Much of this should be in the form of interesting
talks by the teacher, diagrams placed on the board, etc. I do
not mean that any very great amount of time should be given
to the history of literature or to studying about authors ; such
work is of value only as it inspires the pupil to go, either now
or in the future, to the authors themselves.
In our reading work we are somewhat limited, as most
schools are, by the material to w T hich we have access. Yet we
have a sufficient supply of that which is of real worth, so that
nowhere (above the primary grades) does any teacher need to
teach to any class the commonplace, meaningless stories, or
" useful information lessons " so often found in school readers.
Instead, w r e mean that each selection studied shall be the work
of some master mind, something that will be to the child " a
thing of beauty and a joy forever." These masterpieces need
not all be long. As perfect a work of art may be thrown on a
canvas a foot square as on one ten times that size.
It is difficult to find classic prose suitable for study in the
earliest school years ; but there is an abundance of exquisite
poetry which can be appreciated by even these small people.
In the home, quaint old nursery rhymes have delighted children
for many generations, and have marked the dawn of the liter-
ary sense. The child loves them because of the oft-recurring
rhymes, the pronounced meter and the frequent allusion to
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
27
things he knows ; perhaps also because of his sense of humor,
which relishes the grotesque and wildly fanciful. From these
the step is a natural one to such fairy tales as " Cinderella,"
" The Anxious Leaf," " The Ugly Duckling " and " Little Red
Riding-Hood," and to the simple poems of Stevenson, Field and
others. In the fourth grade, Hawthorne's " Snow Image" and
"Daffy-Down Dilly," Scudder's "Fables," and "Hiawatha,"
form a large part of the reading material, the latter being studied
entire, or with only such omissions as the teacher deems best.
In the fifth grade, "Robinson Crusoe," "The Water-Babies,"
"King of the Golden River," "The Niirnberg Stove" and
44 Tales from the Arabian Nights" take the child several steps
farther up the literary stairs. In the middle grammar grades,
the study of Greek and Roman myths, ballads, legends and
tales of chivalry furnish a gate of entrance into the more lofty
and subjective forms of literature. As our course of study is
given in full at the end of this monograph, I will take no fur-
ther time here for its discussion. Every effort is made to cor-
relate the literature with the history work of the various grades.
6. HOW TO TEACH READING.
So much for the material used. But, with the best and most
abundant material which a generous State or city can supply,
the literature work will yet be profitless unless taught in an
intelligent and enthusiastic manner. We aim to make each
reading lesson not so much an elocutionary exercise as a lesson
in literature, a progress in literary acquirement. But the ques-
tion may be asked, "Are not the children to study emphasis,
inflection, etc. ? " Yes, but iiot too much from the stand-point
of the elocutionist. Most of the poor oral reading comes from
poor silent reading. A mistake in emphasis is the mind's mis-
take, and no amount of criticism will eliminate the fault until
the root of the matter is attended to and the mind made to
think the thought right. Reading with indifference, without
feeling, must be remedied by arousing interest in the selection
studied, feeling for it, a desire to express it well. No child
should be allowed to read a single sentence until he has the
thought. The colleges are constantly complaining that the
students sent up to them from the high schools cannot read, —
28
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
that is, cannot master the thought of the printed page. The
fault lies not half so much in the high schools as in the gram-
mar schools. The method of teaching reading, aptly described
by some one as "the monotonous uttering of words, only in-
terrupted by the click of an automaton saying < Next,"' has
not, it is to be feared, entirely passed away.
Let me quote from Miss Arnold, who has been endeavoring
for many years, by voice and pen, to bring about an utterly
different and higher conception of the aim of the reading
work : —
All literature should be treated with the respect due to its dignity,
and not as mere material for reading lessons. Reading should be not
so much an elocutionary exercise as a series of excursions into the
fields of literature. The children should regard it [the reading les-
son] as a search after hidden treasures, and through it they should
learn how to approach books and what to look for in reading.
7. Aids to Interest.
There are various aids to interest which the teacher should
make use of. In our practice school the following are among
such aids, — none of them particularly new 7 or original, how-
ever : —
Each teacher draws from the city public library a number of
books, carefully selected to fit the needs of her particular grade.
These are borrowed by the children for home reading. In this
way the teacher is able to direct the reading of the whole class
to a very large extent. In many of the rooms there are monthly
book reports similar to those described as a part of the work in
the normal school. Authors' birthdays are celebrated in the
usual way. Some of the teachers constantly keep on hand a
supply of interesting and helpful stories, to be read to the
children as a "reward of merit" wdien occasion demands.
Quotations expressive of inspiring and uplifting thoughts are
kept upon the blackboard, with the hope that they will have
their silent but potent influence. Children are encouraged to
select, from the books they read, epigrammatic expressions of
fine thoughts. In the grammar grades one poem of some length
is memorized each month ; in the primary grades the memory
poems are shorter and more frequent. Pictures of authors and
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
29
their homes are collected by the children. An important feature
of the work in some of the rooms has been the making of
author books, similar to those referred to as made by the
normal students. Particularly worthy of mention is a set of
44 Hiawatha books," recently made by the children of the fourth
grade, entirely outside of school hours, and with slight assist-
ance from the teacher. They would do credit to an eighth or
ninth grade.
8. Literature must be made Interesting.
If literature teaching is to be successful, each lesson must be
a delight, and must leave the children longing for more. How
is it to be made interesting, and how are all these far-reaching
results to be accomplished? It is not easy to tell. Hundreds
of teachers can do it, but perhaps not one can tell how she does
it. It is not the method, but the teacher. Much depends upon
her personality, upon her power of imparting her own glowing-
enthusiasm to her class. Much is due to personal magnetism;
and this bespeaks an active, energetic, joyous life, — a life in
which there are few dull moments, and in which the common-
place things of life never lose their charm. The real teacher
has obtained such mastery over her work that it has become
play, and in it she finds her greatest delight. It is new every
morning and fresh every evening. Every hour brings with it
a new and precious opportunity, because she is an artist and
not an artisan.
The dangers which beset the teacher are very insidious and
very persistent. They are the dangers which come from rou-
tine, from looking constantly at details. She, of all people,
needs to get away from this narrowness of vision and to look
at things broadly. She needs the power, if she have it not, of
seeing 44 great things large and little things small." The great
teachers of the world, such as Arnold of Kugby, have been
distinguished not so much for the large number of facts which
they knew, — though scholarship is essential, — as for fulness
and abundance of life, and for the power of imparting to the
student this peculiar quality of life. 44 The Spirit only can
teach," says Emerson. 44 Not any sensual, not any slave, not
any liar can teach, but only he can give who has ; he only can
30
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
create who is." If we too would have in some degree this rich-
ness and fulness of life, must we not drink deep at the fountain-
heads of spiritual power? So bountiful is Providence that we
do not need to look far for such sources of inspiration. We
may get it from nature, as we learn to look through nature up
to nature's God. We may learn, too, if we will, that
Still humanity grows dearer,
Being learned the more.
We have art in all its various aspects ; and if many of these
forms are somewhat inaccessible, the greatest and best of them
all — for literature is the greatest of the fine arts — is as free
as the air we breathe. As teachers of literature, among our
highest sources of inspiration and power must always be those
great reservoirs of human culture and learning which we call
books.
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL. 31
Part III. — The Course of Study.
The Normal School Proper.
Junior Year.
American literature, ....
British literature, .....
Mythology,
Themes, .......
Senior Year.
English grammar, .....
Methods in English, ....
Orthoepy, ......
Themes, .......
Text-books in Use.
In literature : English and American classics of various kinds.
In mythology: Gayley's "Classic Myths."
In English grammar: Wisely's " English Grammar " and Whitney
& Lockwood's "English Grammar."
In methods in English: Mitchell's "Hints on Teaching Reading,"
McMurry's "Method in Reading," Spalding's "Problem of Com-
position Teaching," Bright's "Graded Lessons in English," and
others too numerous to mention.
In orthoepy : no text-book except Webster's dictionary.
The Model School.
Literature and Reading.
Grade 7.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book I.
Cyr's Primer.
Stickney's First Reader.
Hiawatha Primer (first half).
1 A recitation period is forty minutes long. Students usually have six recitations per
day, two of which, as a general thing, require no outside preparation. This statement
will give some idea of the relative amount of the students' time given to English work.
The students as they come to us are high school graduates, and the course of study
extends over two years.
about 70 recitations. *
about 70 recitations,
about 10 recitations,
about 10 recitations.
about 50 recitations,
about 25 recitations,
about 15 recitations,
about 15 recitations.
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
«
Grade II.
Hiawatha Primer (second half) .
Riverside Primer and Reader.
Lights to Literature, Book I.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book II.
Cyr's First and Second Readers.
Grade III.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book II.
Lights to Literature, Book III.
Cyr's Third Reader.
Stickney's Second Reader.
Several sets of five-cent classics.
Williams' Choice Literature, Book I.
Grade IV.
Hiawatha.
Scudcler's Fables and Folk-Lore.
Hawthorne's Snow Image and Daffy-Down Dilly.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book III.
Heart of Oak Book, No. 2.
Grade V.
Robinson Crusoe.
Kingsley's Water-Babies.
The Niirnberg Stove.
The King of the Golden River.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book IV.
Heart of Oak Book, No. 3.
Grade VI.
Hawthorne's Wonder Book.
Whittier's Child-Life in Prose (not complete) .
Little People of the Snow (Bryant) .
Gulliver's Travels (selections) .
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book V.
Williams' Choice Literature, Book II.
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
33
Grade VII.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book VI.
Lamb's Tales from Shakespere (not complete).
Dickens' Christmas Carol.
Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Burroughs' Birds and Bees.
Williams' Choice Literature, Book III.
Grade VIII.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book VIII.
Tennyson's Idylls of the King.
Lays of Ancient Rome (Macaulay).
Tales from the White Hills (Hawthorne).
Williams' Choice Literature, Book IV.
Grade IX.
Masterpieces of American Literature.
Masterpieces of British Literature.
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book VII.
Heart of Oak Book, No. 4.
Williams' Choice Literature, Book V.
I have simply given a list of the text-books used in the vari-
ous grades, and it is needless to say that we do not attempt to
teach the entire contents of any one of them, except in case of
complete wholes, such as 1 4 Robinson Crusoe" or the "Christ-
mas Carol." Teachers are absolutely free to choose from the
material at hand what they will teach, only that they are to
choose the best and to give the children as much of a variety
as possible. No effort is made to get the classes over a definite
and necessarily arbitrary amount of ground in a given time, it
being held that quality rather than quantity of work is the
measure of progress.
Grammar and Language,
Bright's " Graded Lessons in English" furnishes the outline
for the language but not for the grammar work.
34
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
Eighth Grade.
The technical study of English grammar is commenced in
this grade and finished in the ninth. There are weekly com-
positions throughout the year, and incidentally considerable
other written work is done.
1. The nature of the sentence as based upon the thought.
2. Classification of sentences as to meaning.
3. Classification of sentences as to form. •
4. The parts of speech with uses of each (not their grammatical
properties, however) .
5. Modifiers (they should be taken up here very thoroughly).
6. The phrase.
7. The clause.
8. The simple sentence.
9. The compound sentence.
10. The complex sentence.
Punctuation is taught in connection with all phases of the
work.
Ninth Grade.
With their increased capacity to think, the children are able
to enter in this grade more deeply into some of the more
troublesome problems of grammatical construction. Both in
this grade and in the eighth every effort is made to keep the
work from becoming formal memory work. In the ninth grade
the teacher should keep in mind the fact that a large number
of the class are now laying the foundation for their high school
work in Latin and other languages.
1 . The noun : its classes ; its uses ; its modifiers ; its grammatical
properties, gender, person, number, case, with classification of each.
2. The pronoun, studied the same way.
3. The adjective : classes; uses; modifiers; its grammatical prop-
erty, comparison, and the kinds of comparison.
4. The adverb, studied in the same way as the adjective.
5. The verb : its classes ; uses; modifiers; grammatical properties,
mode, voice, tense, person, number, classification of each. (As much
time should be given to the study of the verb as to all the other parts
of speech combined.)
6. The conjunction and preposition, to be studied in the same way,
as far as possible, as the other parts of speech.
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
35
Memory Selection-.
These are taught as literature lessons, then committed to
memory, in the various grades of the model school. More
than the requisite number are given, in order that the teachers
may have the privilege of exercising some choice in the matter.
Teachers are asked to select from the lists one for each month
of the school year. In case a very short one is chosen, one or
two others of similar length should be taught the same month.
There should be variety in the selections used. If possible, each
class should have some selections that are patriotic, some which
will make them love nature, some which will teach them kind-
ness to animals and some setting forth high ideals of character
and conduct, each year.
Ninth Grade.
Gray's Elegy.
Thanatopsis, .....
Bryant.
Books, ..... from Buskin's Sesame and Lilies.
He giveth His Beloved Sleep,
. Mrs. Browning.
Home Thoughts from Abroad,
Browning.
Warren's Address, ....
. Pierpont.
My Country, .....
. Jets. Montgomery.
Boston Hymn (in part),
. Emerson.
One Sweetly Solemn Thought,
. Phoebe Gary.
Flee as a Bird to the Mountain, .
. Mrs. Dana.
Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech.
Song of Marion's Men,
Bryant.
The Grasshopper and the Cricket,
Keats.
To the Grasshopper and the Cricket, .
Leigh Hunt.
Concord Hymn, .....
Emerson.
The Poor Voter on the Eve of Election,
. Whittier.
Longfellow's Sonnet, Nature.
Heaven is not reached by a Single Bound,
Holland.
Oh, yet we trust that somehow Good, from
Tennyson's In Memoriam.
The Blue and the Gray,
. Judge Finch.
Captain, my Captain,
Walt Whitman.
Eighth Grade.
The Daffodils,
Wordsworth.
Crossing the Bar, ....
Tennyson.
The Ocean, .....
Byron.
36
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
The Chambered Nautilus, ..... Holmes.
The Landing of the Pilgrims, .... Hemans.
What constitutes a State? ..... Sir Wm.
My Lost Youth, ...... Longfellow
A Man's a Man for a' That, .... Burns.
Sundown, ........ Longfellow
The Planting of the Apple Tree, .... Bryant.
The Rhodora, ....... Emerson.
The Builders, ....... Longfellow
Ladder of St. Augustine, ..... Longfellow
The Eternal Goodness, ..... Whittier.
Breathes there the Man, ..... Scott.
Snow-Flakes, ....... Longfelloiv
The Castle-Builder, ...... Longfelloiv
Seventh Grade.
The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz, . . . Longfellow
If I were a Voice, ...... Anon.
To a Waterfowl, ...... Bryant.
To a Fringed Gentian, . . . . . Bryant.
The Yellow Violet, Bryant.
Sweet Day, so Calm, so Cool, so Bright, . . Herrick.
Lead, Kindly Light, ...... Newman.
The Arsenal at Springfield, .... Longfelloiv
Our Country, ....... Grimke.
The Snow- Storm, ...... Emerson.
The Brook, ....... Tennyson
The Brook in Winter (Vision of Sir Launf al) , . Lowell.
The Burial of Moses, Alexandei
Portions of Clay's and Webster's Speeches.
Little Boy Blue, Field.
The Arrow and the Song, ..... Longfello
Battle Hymn of the Republic, .... Howe.
The National Flag, ...... Sumner.
Massachusetts, ....... Webster.
The Bugle Song, Tennyson
Sixth Grade.
Yussouf, Lowell.
Old Ironsides, ....... Holmes.
The Robin, Whittier.
My Dog Blanco, Holland.
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
The Finding of the Lyre,
The Voice of the Grass,
The Day is done, ....
Selections from Snow-Bound,
Selections from Vision of Sir Launfal, .
Lost — Three Robbins,
Robert of Lincoln, ....
Selection from The Barefoot Boy,
Before the Rain, ....
After the Rain, .....
A Day of Sunshine, ....
My Heart leaps up, ....
The Tiger,
Don't kill the Birds, ....
The Cricket,
The Windmill,
Fifth Grade.
The Shell,
Jack Frost, .....
Duty, ......
The Noble Nature, ....
The First Snow-Fall, ....
The Village Blacksmith,
We are Seven, .....
The Sunbeam, .....
The Mountain and the Squirrel, .
Abou Ben Adhem, ....
The Wanderer, .....
At the Door, .....
The Sculptor, . . ...
True Growth,
The Four-Leaf Clover,
The Brook and the Wave, .
Hurrah for the Flag ! .
The Spirit of the Sunset,
Fourth Grade.
Pippa's Song, The Year's at the Morn,
I stood Tip-Toe upon a Little Hill,
October, . . . .
The Violet,
Lowell.
Mary Howitt.
Longfellow.
Whitbier.
Lowell.
Anon.
Bryant.
Whittier.
Ahlrich.
Aldrich.
Longfellow.
Wordsworth.
Wm. Blake.
Colesivorthy.
Cowper.
Longfellow.
Tennyson.
Anon.
Emerson.
Ben Jonson.
Lowell.
Longfellow.
Wordsworth.
Anon.
Emerson.
Hunt.
Field.
Field.
Anon.
Ben Jonson.
Anon.
Longfellow.
Anon.
Anon.
Browning.
Keats.
Helen Hunt Jackson.
Jane Taylor.
38
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
Autumn Leaves,
How the Leaves came down,
Winter,
All Things Beautiful,
The Broken Wing,
The Use of Flowers, .
Pussy- Willows,
March,
The Flag goes by ! .
The Child's World, .
The Lilac,
The Children's Hour,
Forget-me-not, .
Fall Fashions, .
The Blue-bird's Song,
A Bird's Nest, .
The Gladness of Nature,
The Arbutus, .
November,
The Snow-Storm,
Selections from Hiawatha,
Anon.
Susan Coolidge.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Mary Howitt.
Stephens.
Lucy Larcom.
Anon.
Browne.
Bates.
Longfellow.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Bryant.
Selected.
Alice Cary.
Anon.
Longfellow.
The anonymous selections are almost all found either in
Lovejoy's " Nature in Verse," or " The Lincoln Literary
Collection."
Third Grade.
The New Moon,
Lullaby of an Infant Chief
The Wind,
A Wish, .
O Little Flowers, you love me so
Seven Times One are Seven,
A Child's Thought of God,
Foreign Children,
Land of Counterpane,
The Fountain, .
Suppose, .
Waiting to grow,
The Land of Story Books,
Song of the Grass Blades,
Rainbow Fairies,
October's Party,
Follen.
Scott.
Stevenson.
Rose Terry.
Anon.
Ingelow.
E. B. Browning.
Stevenson.
Stevenson.
Lowell.
Anon.
Anon.
Stevenson.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
39
The Squirrel's Arithmetic, ....
Anon.
Little Snow-Flakes, .....
Anon.
Selections from Hiawatha, ....
Longfellow.
All of these, with the exception of three or four, are found
in Lovejoy's " Nature in Verse."
Second Grade.
The Lost Doll,
Kingsley.
The City Mouse and the Country Mouse,
Anon.
Little Snow- Flakes, .
Anon.
My Shadow, ......
Stevenson.
September, ......
Helen Hunt Jackson.
Wynken, Blynkeu and Nod,
Field.
The Golden-Rod,
Lovejoy.
Lady Moon, ......
Lord Houghton.
Sweet and Low, ......
Tennyson.
The Snow-Drop, .
Anon.
The Daisy,
Anon.
Now the Day is Over, ....
Baring- Gould.
Pansy Song,
Anon.
The Hay-Loft,
Stevenson.
Trifles,
Colesivorthy.
Selections from Hiawatha, ....
Longfellow.
lliese, with the exception ot two or
three, are found in
Lovejoy's " Nature in Verse."
First Grade.
Little White Lily,
Anon.
Violets, . . . .
J. Moultrie.
The Little Angel,
Prentiss.
Little Things,
Anon.
Politeness,
Anon.
Golden Rule, ......
New England Primer.
Little Kitty,
Prentiss.
The Little Girl and the Rose-bush,
Mary Mapes Dodge.
Hundreds of Stars,
Anon.
Our Baby, .......
Anon.
Happy Thought,
Stevenson.
My Bed a Boat, ......
Stevenson.
Whole Duty of Children, ....
Stevenson.
40
NORMAL SCHOOL ENGLISH.
A Dew-Drop, .
Daisies, .
The Star,
The Bird and its Nest,
Giving Thanks,
Magic Vine, .
A Flight,
I love you, Mother,
Kind Hearts, .
I thank Thee,
The Seed,
The first seven are in "Open Sesame,
three in "Stepping Stones to Literature,
teenth to eighteenth in
Reading ; "
Meadow."
Sherman.
Sherman.
Jane Taylor.
Anon.
Anon .
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Anon.
Vol. I. ; the next
Vol, I. : the fif-
' ' Verse and Prose for Beginners in
and the last six in " Songs of Tree-top and
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
VII
PSYCHOLOGY and CHILD STUDY
IN THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT
FITCHBURG, MASS.
EDWIN A. KIRKPATRICK, B.Sc, M.Ph.
INSTRUCTOR IN PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY, STATE
NORMAL SCHOOL, FITCHBURG, MASS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON :: MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
Psychology and Child Study in the State
Noemal School at Fitchbukg, Mass.
I. Purposes and Principles recognized in the Course.
We aim not so much to teach our students a large body of
psychological and psychogenetic truths, as to give them training
in studying and applying such truths. The general truths of
psychology and child study, so far as formulated by scientists,
when learned by teachers, may and usually do fail to be prac-
tically applied in the school-room unless special training in the
appli cations of those truths is given. This is especially true
when the truths are gotten entirely from books. On the other
hand, we recognize that every human being who has associated
with other human beings and with children has acquired almost
unconsciously a large number of general truths concerning child
and adult nature, and has learned to practically apply them.
We aim, therefore, to cause our students to become more con-
scious of the truth they already know ; to become more inter-
ested in the stud} r of mental activity ; to form habits of contin-
ually noting and interpreting mental facts ; and, above all, to
acquire skill in correctly and tactfully applying general princi-
ples to particular cases, so as to best promote the development
of a school, class or individual.
With such purposes in view, the method of instruction is
naturally regarded as more important than the truths taught,
yet it is recognized that well-selected truths are valuable instru-
ments in accomplishing these results. It is desirable, therefore,
(1) to make students conscious of the principal laws of mental
activity as found by introspection, and cause them to become
familiar with the common psychological terms used in describ-
ing mental states; (2) to teach them something of the physi-
ological organs and processes connected with mental activity ;
(3) to give them some knowledge of the methods and results
4
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
of experimental and statistical investigations ; and (4) to make
them familiar with child-study methods and some of the most
important results thus far obtained. These fields of introspec-
tive, physiological, experimental and developmental psychology
are so large that only a small portion of each can be explored
in the time at our disposal, hence selections must be made. It
is not, however, deemed necessary that exactly the same facts
and truths shall be presented to successive classes, provided
they are well selected and carefully organized.
Although the gaining of general truths is an important means
of arousing interest, promoting habits of study and furnishing
a basis for observation and judgment, yet the normal student
as an intending teacher needs to be prepared to deal with indi-
vidual children in a particular state of mind and under particular
conditions. Her success will depend upon her ability to quickly
and correctly perceive and understand these particulars, rather
than upon her knowledge of what is generally true of mental
activities and of children of a certain age ; just as the success
of a physician depends more upon his practical judgment of the
peculiarities and symptoms of his patients than upon his general
knowledge of diseases and remedies. It is true that the ability
to deal quickly and accurately with individual children and par-
ticular situations must be gained by experience as a teacher
rather than by the training as a normal student ; yet if in the
normal school some practice is not given in applying general
truths to such particular cases, the normal graduate will almost
inevitably fail to use her knowledge of general truths in dealing
with concrete cases in her school.
One who works with children needs not merely the scientific
knowledge of children gained from study, but the practical
knowledge acquired in dealing with them. Interest in children
also should be not merely a speculative or scientific interest in
their peculiarities, but a genuine, loving, sympathetic, human
interest in them ; hence it is desirable that normal students be
brought into personal relations with children, instead of merely
making them objects of study. They should also study them,
to some extent at least, under the natural stimulus of some
practical need to know something about them, in order to deal
with them successfully.
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
5
II. General Description of the Course.
Pupils of the normal school spend two or three periods a
week in psychology and child study during most of their course.
The first year, introspective psychology and observational
child study are made most prominent, and books are used but
little. The aim is to make them more conscious of what they
already know about mental activity and the peculiarities of child
nature, to organize their knowledge and to lead them to form
habits of observing and thinking about such things. To accom-
plish this, many questions are asked that stimulate introspec-
tion, observation and thought, and simple experiments are used
for the same purpose. As a further help in this direction, and
as a basis for sympathetic child study, students are frequently
asked to write reminiscences of their own childhood, on such .
subjects as "Earliest recollections," "My first day in school,"
"Early fears." In addition to these assignments and the facts
brought out in class discussions, the normal students are en-
couraged to write on report blanks anything interesting and
characteristic of childhood that they recall, observe, are told or
read about. These reports are classified and used for illustra-
tive material in class and for special study by those preparing
theses.
In order that the work in psychology may be systematic and
correlated with child study, classifications are early made by
producing certain forms of mental activity, noting their pecu-
liarities and naming them. General activities, like habit and
attention, are studied first ; then special intellectual activities,
such as sensation, perception, imagination, etc. ; followed by
studies of the feelings and of the will. After a form of activity
is known, general truths about it are formulated and the attempt
made to find their pedagogical application. To make this defi-
nite and practical, a group of model school children are taught
by a member of the class something that causes them to use the
mental activity about which the class have been studying, and
the class observes the use of this activity, and determines how
far the method used facilitates or hinders such mental activity
in the children.
The physiological processes involved in various mental activi-
6
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
ties are frequently referred to in class discussions, but the chief
facts of physiological psychology are taught by the teacher of
physiology who is giving instruction at the same time.
Experimental psychology as a science receives little atten-
tion, though experiments for the promotion of introspection
and for illustration are frequently used. The methods of mak-
ing them quantitative and exact are also pointed out, but there
is little time for practice. The pupils are taught, however, to
test the eyes and ears of children, and are given some practice
in making other simple tests, such as rate of card sorting, etc.
In order to give students a chance to be with children, ob-
serve them and get into sympathetic personal relations with
them outside of school work, when they are most free from con-
straint and hence most themselves, normal students meet with
the model school children in play for an hour every two weeks.
Groups of from two to four normal students and twice as many
children are formed and kept as a separate play group through
the year. The normal students take turns in leading so far as
leadership is necessary, and all join in having as good a time
as possible. The children are encouraged to suggest games
and join heartily in whatever the majority wish to play, while
the normal students keep the group together by keeping them
interested and developing a group spirit. After the play period
the normal students reflect upon the experience, and write a
report of the games played and their observations upon the
children as a group and individually.
The second year, the students spend much more time than in
the first year in acquiring the truths of psychology and child
study (especially the latter) that have been gained by scientific
investigation, and in considering general theories as to the ap-
plication of these truths in education. The students do much
more reading and less observational work, except in the train-
ing school; but the truths gained by reading are connected
with those already acquired by observation and introspection.
The general method followed is to prepare outlines of topics to
be studied, arrange references to books and articles, some-
times asking students to look up additional ones in certain
journals and then to discuss the abstracts of these different
articles and books as they are reported by different members
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
7
of the class, reaching so far as possible definite conclusions
on the topics under consideration.
Besides this class work, each student writes a thesis upon a
subject connected in some way with child study. In preparing
this thesis the student not only reads the accessible literature
on the subject, but collects by observation, inquiry and experi-
ment some data bearing upon it, and makes generalizations or
verifies those made by others.
One-third of this second year is spent in full charge of a room
as a teacher. While teaching and while observing in the room
a half-day each week for several months before taking charge
of it, the normal students study the children of that room so as
to become thoroughly acquainted with them as a school and
individually <■ Suggestive outlines are given the students, and
written reports are made by the students before and after
taking charge of a room. Personal conferences are also held
with each student by the director of child study, who himself
seeks to know individually all the children in the training
schools, so as to be able to talk intelligently with students
about them and sometimes to suggest modes of treating par-
ticular children. This phase of the child study work is most
like that which must be done in schools outside of the nor-
mal where children are studied, not out of mere curiosity,
but under stress of the particular need of knowing more about
them in order to teach them with the greatest success.
Individual child study is facilitated by keeping in pasteboard
boxes, alphabetically arranged, samples of each pupil's work,
taken near the beginning and near the close of each year. It
is thus possible to see what each pupil is doing in each subject
and what he has been doing in the past. All special tests made
upon each child are also filed in his box, and records of each
child's nationality, occupation of parent and the child's previous
school experience are kept.
The third year, or advanced course, which is taken by quite
a large proportion of the normal students, is spent, so far as
child study is concerned, in much the same kind of work as
that of the second year, only the work is more difficult and
extensive.
8
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
III. Some Typical Outlines and Suggestions used in
the Course.
The following selected outlines will show in detail the nature
of the work described in the preceding section.
No. 1 is the blank used by students in reporting interesting "
facts and incidents of childhood that they have secured. Check
marks opposite the words in the upper left-hand corner indicate
whether the facts were gained by reminiscence, observation,
hearsay or reading ; and numbers in the upper right-hand
corner indicate whether the report is a part of a series of ob-
servations on one child, or of a collection upon a certain topic,
or merely incidental. Students are urged to be careful to
report only the facts under " incident," and to give their inter-
pretation and explanation under "inferences and remarks."
The blank after 6 ' classification " is filled by the student only
when she is quite sure as to how the incident should be classified.
Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are used in observing children as they are
given lessons involving mental activities about which the stu-
dents have studied, and to some extent in all observations in
the model and practice schools.
No. 5 is a blank used last year in making a series of tests on
the model and practice school children.
Nos. 6 and 7 are used in studying the children of a room in
the practice school which is to be or is being taught by the
observer.
No. 1. Department of Child Study, State Normal School, Fitch-
burg, Mass.
Reminiscence Continuous
Observation Topical
Hearsay Incidental
Quotation
Age of child Sex Classification
Incident ,
Inference and remarks
Reported by
Date
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
9
No. 2. Attention.
I. The Class as a Whole.
1. Are they attentive —
(a) To what the teacher says and does.
(6) To the recitations of the members of the class.
2. State specifically what you observed in —
(a) Motions, attitude or expression of face.
(6) Answers to questions or attempts to follow directions that led
you to infer that they were or were not attentive.
3. Try to discover as many causes for their attention or inattention as
possible, taking into account —
(a) The nature of the subject matter.
(b) The knowledge and mental powers possessed by the pupils.
(c) (1) The order of presenting the subject matter.
(2) Clearness of language and illustrations used.
(3) The movements and tone of voice of the teacher.
To what extent is the subject matter new, and to what extent familiar?
Are they able to comprehend the new and see its relation to some-
thing in which they are already interested ?
Is what is presented sufficiently difficult to require strict attention?
Is one part dependent upon another, so that continued attention is
required ?
Does each pupil feel the responsibility for what is presented, and that
his knowledge is likely to be tested at any moment ?
In what way is he led to feel this responsibility, or how may he be led
to feel it ?
II. Individual Pupils.
1. Is the pupil more or less attentive than the others?
2. Is this difference permanent? If not, under what circumstances is
he attentive ? If inattentive all the time, determine : (a) whether
any of the points mentioned above apply to him in an unusual
degree ; (b) whether defects of eye or ear or unfavorable posi-
tion for seeing and hearing are the cause. If the inattention
seems to be merely a habit, try to find out how that habit can be
broken up.
No. 3. Perception and Apperception.
/. The Class as a Whole.
1. Note whether —
(a) The conditions (light, distance, angle of vision, size of object
or letters, etc.) are favorable for seeing and hearing.
(6) The class is attentive.
2. Note whether —
(a) The thing being examined is perceived as a whole, or its
elements noted.
(6) Essential or non-essential characteristics are noted,
(c) How the pupil's attention is or could be drawn to essential
characteristics.
10
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
Whatever is presented can be apperceived only by means of knowledge
already possessed by the pupils.
1. Note, therefore —
(a) Whether the matter being presented is like or related to any-
thing experienced by the pupils.
(6) Read or heard by them.
(c) Taught them in school in the same or other subjects.
2. Note —
(a) Whether the teacher expressly calls up this knowledge in
presenting the subject matter.
(6) Whether, if she does not, they show that they have done so
themselves.
(c) Which of the three classes of knowledge indicated in (1) they
most frequently and pleasurably call up.
3. Notice whether, in apperceiving the new by means of the old, they
discriminate differences as well as similarities ; or whether they
incorrectly ascribe characteristics of the old to the new.
11. Individual Pujrils.
1. Does your pupil perceive more or less perfectly than the rest of the
class?
2. If less, determine whether —
(a) It is due to defects of eye or ear.
(6) Unfavorable position for seeing or hearing.
(c) Want of attention.
(<2) Unusual slowness in perceiving.
(e) Want of some knowledge possessed by others.
3. "If more, determine whether it is due to —
(a) Closer attention and better discriminative powers.
(6) Better or more apperceptive knowledge.
4. In either case, note carefully —
(a) Extent.
(6) Kind of apperceiving knowledge.
(c) The tendency to call it up himself manifested by the pupil,
and determine how far this accounts for unusually good
perception, or suggests how imperfect perception may
be improved.
No. 4. Conception.
Be continually on the watch to discover what words mean to the pupil, and
how that meaning is changing for him.
1. Determine whether the probable source of his concept is —
(a) Direct association of the word with the thing or experience
signified.
(b) Study of description or definition.
(c) Hearing the word used with other words.
2. Determine whether his concepts are correct or incorrect, and whether
they are too narrow or too broad.
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
1 1
3. Are his concepts of the first, second or third degree of definiteness, and
to what extent can he recognize characteristics that he can name,
and vice versa ?
4. In forming new concepts, notice how many and what variety of examples
are necessary before he can discover the essential characteristics so
as to know the basis of classification or the definition.
5. In classifying, notice whether the mistakes are due to imperfect dis-
crimination of the qualities of the thing being classified, or want of
knowledge of the essential qualities of the class.
Beasoning.
1. Notice whether the pupil has a tendency to make inferences ; and, if so,
whether it is mainly in applying general truths already learned or in
making general statements from one or more particulars.
2. -The basis will always be some kind of apparent similarity ; note, there-
fore —
(a) What the seeming likeness is.
(6) Whether it is essential.
(c) Whether the general truths about the class having those character-
istics are correctly related.
3. Note whether defective reasoning is due to —
(a) Imperfect concepts.
(ft) Want of accurate discrimination of characteristics.
(c) Want of power of attention to hold two or more things in mind.
(d) Lack either in knowledge of general truths necessar^v to the infer-
ence or in the tendenc} 7 to recall them.
No. 5. Record of Tests.
Name Age
Date Grade _______
Height
Eyes ' Acuteness
R.
L.
Astigmatism
Do eyes ever hurt ?
Does head ever ache ?
Ears
R.
L.
Counted in ten seconds _
Made in ten seconds
Time of counting marks
marks.
seconds.
12
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY.
Time for sorting 25 cards : —
Orally directed
Errors
Visually directed
Errors
seconds.
False motions
seconds.
False motions
Pictures.
No. 6. Suggestions for Observations by Students preparing to
1. "Would you make any change in the light or ventilation of the room or in
the seats of the pupils? What portions of the blackboard are clearly
visible from different parts of the room?
2. Is the school as a whole about the average for schools of this grade in
age, size, ability and advancement?
3. Are there any pupils who are much behind or ahead in any of these
respects ; and, if so, what explanation of such variations can you give ?
4. Are there any pupils who show signs of poor health, nervousness or
defects of eye and ear ; and, if so, what are the signs you have noticed ?
What can the teacher do for such pupils ?
5. What do you notice in the habits and disposition of the school, as a whole,
that is good, and what that needs improvement ? What improvement
do you expect to try to make?
6. Answer the same questions as in 5 for individual children who have habits
and dispositions different from the rest ol the school.
7. What subjects are the pupils most interested in, and what least? What
cause of such interest or lack of interest do you see, and what means
do you expect to use to maintain and increase interest ?
8. The same questions as in 7 for individual pupils differing from the rest.
9. Make a special study of any child who seems to be a leader of a part or
all the school, trying to determine how he leads his companions and
how he can best be led by a teacher.
No. 7. Suggestions for observing Individual Pupils.
In trying to get acquainted with children, it will be of advantage to note
facts and form judgments in regard to the following points, so far as
you have opportunity to do so : —
/. Physical Characteristics.
Size of child for his age.
Health.
Evidence of or freedom from nervousness.
Characteristics of attitudes and movements.
Condition of eyes and ears.
II. School Work.
Work as compared with average of his class.
Success in different subjects.
Chief merits or defects as a pupil.
take Charge of a Room in the Practice School.
PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD STUDY. 13
Life Outside of School.
Character of his home.
Occupations outside of school in the way of studying, reading, work-
ing or playing.
Characteristics shown outside of school different from those in school.
IV. Mental Characteristics.
Ability, quickness and accuracy in perceiving, imaging, remember-
ing and reasoning.
Emotional characteristics, as manifested in fear, anger, jealousy,
bashfulness, pride, and in his interests.
Effect of praise and blame.
Character of attention : reflex or voluntary, continuous or intermit-
tent, intense or slight.
Actions, impulsive or deliberate.
Persistency, or lack of it, in working.
How best appealed to.
Which is needed most, — stimulation, repression or direction.
Evidence of his tendency to lead, or follow and imitate.
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
EIGHT EDUCATIONAL MONOGRAPHS
VIII
ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION
OF THE NORMAL SCHOOLS
IN MASSACHUSETTS
COMPILED BY GEORGE E. GAY, A.M.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
MALDEN, MASS.
WRIGHT & POTTER PRINTING COM-
PANY :: 18 POST OFFICE SQUARE,
BOSTON : : MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
State Board of Education.
Established 1837.
EX OFFICIO.
His Excellency W. Murray Crane, Governor.
His Honor John L. Bates, Lieutenant-Governor.
BY APPOINTMENT.
Elijah B. Stoddard, A.M., . Worcester,
George H. Conley, A.M., .
Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer,
Joel D. Miller, A.M.,
Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells,
Franklin Carter, Ph.D., LL.D.,
George I. Aldrich, A.M., .
Brookline,
Cambridge,
Leominster,
Boston,
Williams College,
Newtonville,
Elmer H. Capen, D.D.,
Tufts College,
Term expires
May 25, 1900.
May 25, 1901.
May 25, 1902.
May 25, 1903.
May 25, 1904.
May 25, 1905.
May 25, 1906.
May 25, 1907.
SECRETARY.
Frank A. Hill, A.M., Litt.D.
State House, Boston.
CLERK AND TREASURER.
C. B. TlLLINGHAST, A.M.
State House, Boston.
AGENTS.
John T. Prince, Ph.D.,
G. T. Fletcher, A.M.,.
James W. MacDonald, A.M.,
Henry T. Bailey,
L. Walter Sargent, Assistant,
West Newton.
Northampton.
Stoneham.
North Scituate.
Boston.
Origin and Organization
OP THE
Normal Schools in Massachusetts.
In the early part of this century there was a decline of
interest and confidence in the public schools of Massachusetts.
u A few intelligent, high-minded, strong-hearted men " saw the
great evil of this decline, and set themselves to the work of
arousing public sentiment to the necessity of establishing State
normal schools for the training of public school teachers.
The outcome of their labors was the establishment of the
Massachusetts school fund in 1834 and of the Massachusetts
Board of Education in 1838. The Board immediately turned
its attention to the establishment of normal schools. Hon.
Edmund Dwight of Boston, a member of the Board, offered to
fuivish $10,000, to be expended under the direction of the
Boaru, for qualifying teachers for our common schools, on con-
dition that the Legislature would appropriate for the same
purpose an equal amount. The Legislature accepted the propo-
sition ; and, with $20,000 at their command, the Board decided
to open three schools for the education of teachers, each to con-
tinue three years as an experiment. The ability and fidelity of
the first principals made the experiment successful.
The normal schools are under the direct control of the Board
of Education and are supported entirely by the State, chiefly
from the moiety of the income of the school fund.
The required course of study was one year until 1855, then
one year and a half until 1865, when it was made two years.
In 1869 a four-years course was provided, the last two years
of which are optional.
In the State there are now ten normal schools, including the
6 ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
Normal Art School at Boston, and they are regarded as an essen-
tial part of the public school system of the Commonwealth.
They have exerted a powerful influence in the educational prog-
ress of the last sixty years, by their discussions of the philosophy
and art of teaching and by the good work of their graduates.
DESIGN OF THE SCHOOLS.
By the resolve of the Legislature under which normal schools
were established, their design is stated to be " qualifying teach-
ers for the common schools in Massachusetts." It is more
fully stated by a vote of the Board of Education passed May 6,
1880: —
The design of the normal school is strictly professional ; that is, to
prepare in the best possible manner the pupils for the work of organ-
izing, governing and teaching the public schools of the Common-
wealth.
To this end there must be the most thorough knowledge : first, of
the branches of learning required to be taught in the schools j second,
of the best methods of teaching those branches ; and third, of right
mental training.
The time of one course extends through a period of two years, of
the other through a period of four years, and is divided into terms of
twenty weeks each, with daily sessions of not less than five days each
week.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION.
Candidates for admission to any one of the normal schools
must have attained the age of seventeen years complete, if
young men, and sixteen years, if young women ; and must be
free from any disease or infirmity which would unfit them for
the office of teacher. They must present certificates of good
moral character ; give evidence of good intellectual capacity ;
and be graduates of high schools whose courses of study have
been approved by the Board of Education, or have received, to
the satisfaction of the principal and the Board of Visitors of the
school, the equivalent of a high school education. Candidates
will do well to present a written statement from their high
school principals, showing in clear and discriminating terms
the character of their scholarship and conduct while in the high
school. Such statements will receive very careful consideration.
NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS.
Candidates must declare their intention to teach in the schools
of the State, to abide by the requirements of the school, and,
if possible, to complete the course of study.
RECORDS OF SCHOLARSHIP,
The importance of a good record in the high school cannot
be overestimated. The stronger the evidence of character,
scholarship and promise, of whatever kind, candidates bring,
especially from schools of high reputation and from teachers
of good judgment and fearless expression, the greater con-
fidence they may have in guarding themselves against the
contingencies of an examination and of satisfying the exam-
iners with their fitness. Reasonable allowance in equivalents
will be made in case a candidate, for satisfactory reasons, has
not taken a study named for examination.
i
ORAL EXAMINATIONS.
Candidates will be questioned orally upon matters of common
interest to them and the school at the discretion of the examiners.
In this interview, the object is to gain some impression about the
candidates' personal characteristics and their use of language, as
well as to give them an opportunity to furnish any evidences
of qualification that might not otherwise become known to
their examiners. Any work of a personal, genuine and legiti-
mate character that candidates have done in connection with
any of the groups that are set for examination, and that is
susceptible of visible or tangible presentation, may be offered
at this time, and such work will be duly weighed in the final
estimate, and may even determine it. To indicate the scope
of this feature, the following kinds of possible presentation
are suggested, but the candidates may readily extend the
list : —
1. A book of drawing exercises, — particularly such a book
of exercises as one might prepare in following the directions
in " An Outline of Lessons in Drawing for Ungraded Schools,"
prepared under the direction of the Massachusetts Board of
Education, or in developing any branch of that scheme.
2. Any laboratory note-book that is a genuine record of
experiments performed, data gathered or work done, with
8 ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
the usual accompaniments of diagrams, observations and con-
clusions.
3. Any essay or article that presents the nature, succes-
sive steps and conclusion of any simple, personally conducted
investigation of a scientific character, with such diagrams,
sketches, tables and other helps as the character of the work
may suggest.
4. Any exercise book containing compositions, abstracts,
analyses or other written work that involves study in connec-
tion with the literature requirements of the examination.
Specimens of written work or of drawing should be identified
by the signature of the principal of the school as the work of
the student who presents them.
WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS.
The written examination will embrace one paper upon each
of the following groups, with a maximum time allowance of
two hours for each of groups L, II. and IV., and of one hour
for each of groups III. and V. : —
I. Languages. — (a) English, with its grammar and liter-
Mure, and (b) one of the three languages, — Latin, French and
German.
II. Mathematics. — (a) Arithmetic, (b) the elements of
algebra and (c) the elements of plane geometry.
III. History and Geography. — The history and civil gov-
ernment of Massachusetts and the United States, with related
geography and so much of English history as is directly
contributory to a knowledge of United States history.
IY. Sciences. — (a) Physical geography, (b) physiology
find hygiene, (c) physics, (d) botany and (e) chemistry.
V. Drawing and Music. — (a) Elementary mechanical and
freehand drawing, with any one of the topics, — form, color
#nd arrangement, and (6) musical notation.
Special Directions.
No candidate will be accepted whose written English is
notably deficient in clear and accurate expression, spelling,
punctuation, idiom or division of paragraphs, or whose spoken
English exhibits faults so serious as to make it inexpedient for
NORMAL SCHOOLS IX MASSACHUSETTS. 9
the normal school to attempt their correction. The candidate's
English, therefore, in all oral and written examinations will be
subject to the requirements implied in the foregoing statement,
and marked accordingly.
I. Language-.
(a) English. — The importance of a good foundation in
English cannot be overrated. The plan and the subjects for
the examination will be the same as those generally agreed
upon by the colleges and high technical schools of Xew Eng-
land. While candidates are strongly advised to study, either
in school or out, all the works given in this plan, the topics
and questions will be so prepared, until further announcement,
that any candidate may expect to meet them who has mastered
half of the works assigned for reading (or a bare majority ot
them) and half of the works assigned for study and practice,
the selection to be at the candidate's option or that of the school
which he attends.
1. Bead in*/ and Practice. — A limited number of books
will be set for reading. The candidate will be required to
present evidence of a general knowledge of the subject-matter,
and to answer simple questions on the lives of the authors.
The form of examination will usually be the writing of a para-
graph or two on each of several topics to be chosen by the
candidate from a considerable number — perhaps ten or fifteen
— set before him in the examination paper. The treatment
of these topics is designed to test the candidate's power of
clear and accurate expression, and will call for only a general
knowledge of the substance of the books. In place of a part
or the whole of this test, the candidate may present an exercise
book properly certified by his instructor, containing composi-
tions or other written work done in connection with the reading
of the books. In preparation for this part of the requirement
it is important that the candidate shall have been instructed in
the fundamental principles of rhetoric.
The books set for this part of the examination will be : —
1900. — Dryden's Palamon and Arcite; Pope's Iliad, Books
I., VI., XXII. and XXIV.; The Sir Por/er de Coverley
Papers in The Spectator; Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield ;
10
ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
Scott's Ivankoe; De Quincey's The Flight of a Tartar Tribe;
Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans; Tennyson's The Princess;
Lowell's The Vision of Sir Launfal.
1901 and 1902. — Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice;
Pope's Iliad, Books L, VI., XXII. and XXIV.; The Sir
Roger de Coverley Papers in The Spectator; Goldsmith's
The Vicar of Wakefield ; Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner;
Scott's Ivanhoe; Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans; Tenny-
son's The Princess; Lowell's The Vision of Sir Launfal;
George Eliot's Silas Marner.
2. Study and Practice. — This part of the examination
presupposes a more careful study of each of the works named
below. The examination will be upon subject-matter, form
and structure, and also will test the candidate's ability to ex-
press his knowledge with clearness and accuracy. In addition,
the candidate may be required to answer questions involving
the essentials of English grammar and questions on the leading
facts in those periods of English literary history to which the
prescribed works belong. The books set for this part of the
examination will be : —
1900. — Shakespeare's Macbeth; Milton's Paradise Lost,
Books I. and II. ; Burke's Speech on Conciliation tvith Amer-
ica; Macaulay's Essays on Milton and Addison.
1901 and 1902. — Shakespeare's Macbeth; Milton's Lycidas,
Comas, E Allegro and UPenseroso; Burke's Speech on Con-
ciliation with America; Macaulay's Essays on Milton and
Addison.
(b) One only of the three languages, — Latin, French and
German. The translation at sight of simple prose, with ques-
tions on the usual forms and ordinary constructions of the
language. The candidate is earnestly advised to study Latin
and either French or German.
II. Mathematics.
(a) Arithmetic. — Such an acquaintance with the subject as
may be gained in a good grammar school.
(b) Algebra. — The mastery of any text-book suitable for
the youngest class in a high school, through cases of affected
quadratic equations involving one unknown quantity.
NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS.
11
(c) Geometry, — The elements of plane geometry as pre-
sented in any high school text-book. While a fair acquaint-
ance with ordinary book work in geometry will, for the present,
be accepted, candidates are advised, so far as practicable, to do
original work with both theorems and problems, and an oppor-
tunity will be offered them, by means of alternative questions,
to exhibit their ability in such work.
III. History and Geography.
Any school text-book on United States history will enable
candidates to meet this requirement, provided they study
enough of geography to illumine the history and make them-
selves familiar with the grander features of government in
Massachusetts and the United States. Collateral reading in
United States history is strongly advised.
IV. Sciences.
(a) Physical Geography. — The mastery of the elements of
this subject as presented in the study of geography in a good
grammar school. If the grammar school work is supplemented
by the study of some elementary text-book on physical
geography, better preparation still is assured.
(b) Physiology and Hygiene. — The chief elementary facts
of anatomy, the general functions of the various organs, the
more obvious rules of health, and the more striking effects of
alcoholic drinks, narcotics and stimulants upon those addicted
to their use.
(c) , (d) and (e), Physics, Chemistry and Botany. — The
elementary principles of these subjects, so far as they may be
presented in the courses usually devoted to them in good high
schools. Study of the foregoing sciences, or of some of them,
with the aid of laboratory methods, is earnestly recommended.
V. Drawing and Music.
(a) Drawing. — Mechanical and freehand drawing, — enough
to enable the candidates to draw a simple object, like a box or
a pyramid or a cylinder, with plan and elevation to scale, and
to make a freehand sketch of the same in perspective. Also
any one of the three topics, — form, color and arrangement.
12
ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE
(b) Music. — The elementary principles of musical notation,
such as an instructor should know in teaching singing in the
schools. Ability to sing, while not required, will be prized as
an additional qualification.
TIMES OF EXAMINATION AND ADMISSION.
Examinations for admission to the normal schools are held
at the close of the school year in June, and at the beginning of
the school year in September. Candidates are advised to present
themselves at the first examination.
New classes are admitted to the normal schools at the begin-
ning of the fall term. Candidates should come in September
prepared to stay, as regular work begins on the day following
the examinations.
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS.
1. Candidates may be admitted to a preliminary examina-
tion a year in advance of their final examination, provided they
offer themselves in one or more of the following groups, each
group to be presented in full : —
II. Mathematics.
III. History and Geography.
IV. Sciences.
V. Drawing and Music.
Preliminary examinations can be taken in June only.
Every candidate for a preliminary examination must present
a certificate of preparation in the group or groups chosen, or
in the subjects thereof, the form of certificate to be substan-
tially as follows : —
has been a pupil in the
School for years, and is, in my judgment,
prepared to pass the normal school preliminary examination in the follow-
ing group or groups of subjects and the divisions thereof : —
Signature of principal or teacher,.
Address,.
NORMAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 13
2. The group known as "7. Languages" must be re-
served for the final examinations. It will doubtless be found
generally advisable in practice that the group known as 6 6 IV.
Sciences " should also be so reserved.
Candidates for the final or complete examinations are ear-
nestly advised to present themselves, so far as practicable, in
June. Division of the final or complete examinations between
June and September is permissible ; but it is important both for
the normal school and for the candidate that the work laid out
for the September examinations, which so closely precede the
opening of the school, shall be kept down to a minimum.
EXPENSES.
Tuition is free to all who declare their intention to teach in
the public schools of Massachusetts. For others the tuition is
fifty dollars a year.
Text-books and supplies are free, as in the public schools.
State aid, not exceeding one dollar and one-half per week,
may be granted to deserving persons after they have been in
attendance for at least one term, provided they are residents
of Massachusetts and do not live in towns where the normal
schools are situated.
NORMAL SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS AT HARVARD.
There are eight scholarships in the scientific school of
Harvard University for the benefit of graduates of the State
normal schools. The annual value of each of these scholar-
ships is one hundred and fifty dollars, which is the price of
tuition, so that the holder of the scholarship gets his tuition
free.
The incumbents are originally appointed for one year, on the
recommendation of the principals of the schools from which
they have been severally graduated. These appointments may
be annually renewed, on the recommendation of the faculty of
the scientific school.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1839.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
HENRY WHITTEMORE, Principal.
Psychology, School Organization and Government.
Amelia Davis, Mathematics and Astronomy.
Anna M. Clark, Sciences.
Louisa A. Nicholass, Household Arts.
Frederic W. Howe, Chemistry and Physics.
Samuel C. Prescott, Bacteriology.
Lillian Ordway, . Geography and Latin.
M. Elizabeth Holbrook, History and Civil Polity.
Mary C. Moore, English Literature and Language.
Jane E. Ireson, Reading.
Mary H. Stevens, French.
C. F. Whitney, Dratcing.
F. W. Archibald, Singing.
Susan M. Emerson, Sloyd.
Alma E. Hubd, Gymnastics.
PRACTICE SCHOOL.
Antoinette Roof, Nellie A. Dale,
Susan M. Emerson, Elizabeth Malloy,
Alice V. Winslow, Anna F. Claflin.
KINDERGARTEN.
Phebe M. Beard.
State Normal School, Framingham.
HISTORICAL.
The State Board of Education, in their second annual report,
Dec. 28, 1838, made the following statements in regard to the
establishment of normal schools in Massachusetts : —
The subject of schools for teachers has for several years received a
considerable share of the attention of the friends of education in the
Commonwealth, and has on many occasions been favorably considered
by the committees on education of the two Houses. The Board of
Education, in their former annual report, presented the subject to the
notice of the Legislature. In the course of the last winter, March 12,
1838, a communication was addressed by the secretary of the Board
to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Rep-
resentatives, stating that the sum of $10,000 had been placed at his
disposal by a friend of education (Hon. Edmund Dwight of Boston),
on condition that the Commonwealth would appropriate the same
amount, the sum to be disbursed, under the direction of the Board of
Education, in qualifying teachers for common schools.
The donation was promptly accepted by the Legislature on the
condition named, and the sum of $10,000 was appropriated to the
object specified by a joint resolve, approved on the 19th of April,
1838.
Feeling that institutions for the formation of teachers were relied
upon by many intelligent friends of education as the most important
means of improving the character of our common schools, while the
mass of the community were perhaps waiting, with opinions yet un-
decided, the sure teachings of experience on this subject, the Board
felt that more than usual responsibility rested upon them for a cautious
application of the fund placed at their disposal. This course was
rendered still more necessary by the want of previously established
institutions of the kind in this country which might serve as a guide.
Attempts have been made, it is understood, with considerable success,
20
FRAMINGHAM NORMAL SCHOOL.
in a sister State to connect some provision for the formation of teachers
with regular academical institutions ; but the Board are not aware
that normal schools, properly so called, have as yet been established
in any part of the Union.
At their last meeting, on the 28th of December, having received
from persons interested in the cause of education, at Lexington in
the county of Middlesex, the offer of a building well fitted for the
purpose, and of liberal pecuniary co-operation toward the current
expenses of the institution, it was determined to proceed forthwith to
the establishment of a normal school, for the education of female
teachers, in that place. The situation was deemed as favorable as
any one which could be selected, to accommodate the counties of
Essex and Middlesex, and generally the north-eastern section of the
State. The village has all the advantages to be desired of local situa-
tion. Great interest is manifested in the establishment on behalf of
many citizens of the place, and the premises placed at the disposition
of the Board are convenient and ample.
The third annual report of the Board, Dec. 27, 1839, states
that : —
In the course of the past year the normal schools or seminaries for
the qualification of teachers, at Lexington and Barre, have gone into
operation. As it was very important to secure the highest attainable
degree of qualification in the immediate superintendence of these
schools, much time was unavoidably required for the selection and
appointment of instructors. The arrangements for the school at Lex-
ington were first completed by the choice of Mr. Cyrus Pierce, who at
the time of his election was engaged with uncommon success as prin-
cipal of the public school at Nantucket. The normal school at Lex-
ington, it will be recollected, was exclusively designed for females.
The present number of pupils is 21. At the same time, a model
school connected with the institution was put into operation. This is
a school attended by 30 pupils of both sexes, between the ages of six
and ten years, gathered from the several school districts in the town.
This school is under the general superintendence of the principal of
the normal school, but is taught by the pupils of that institution.
The fourth annual report of the Board, Jan. 20, 1841, speaks
as follows of the school at Lexington : —
The experiment of a special education for the business of teaching,
if that can be called an experiment which has been approved by an
FRAMINGHAM NORMAL SCHOOL.
21
extensive experience of more than half a century, is satisfactory, so
far as its results can yet be judged of, at Lexington ; and, this school
being the oldest (July 3, 1839) of the three established in the Com-
monwealth, its history is on that account the more important, and has
deserved a more particular examination.
Removal of the School to West Newton.
In the eighth annual report, Dec. 10, 1844, the secretary of
the Board, Hon. Horace Mann, reported that : —
During the year ending in the month of September last the number
of pupils at the Lexington Normal School had so increased that not
more than one-half of them could be comfortably accommodated in
the building which they occupied. Measures for increasing the
accommodations became indispensable to the prosperity of the school.
At that time it was ascertained that a large and commodious edifice
in West Newton, which had been erected originally for an academy,
could be purchased. But the building and grounds needed repair and
improvement, and the Board, from its limited funds, could ill afford
the necessary outlay. Irreparable injury threatened the school, when,
these facts coming to the knowledge of the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr.,
he generously advanced the money for the purchase of the place at
West Newton. He directed that a deed should be taken in my name,
which, on the seventh day of August last, was accordingly done.
Henceforth the building is appropriated, free of rent, to the use of
the Board of Education, for the accommodation of a normal school.
The ninth annual report thus speaks of the school : —
The school was opened at West Newton for the reception of pupils
in September, 1844, and the average number in attendance for three
terms has a little exceeded 62.
The fourteenth annual report, 1850, states that : —
The house for the normal school at West Newton is situated in
such immediate proximity to the Worcester railroad that the exercises
of the school are at all seasons seriously interrupted by the noise ;
and during the warmer months of the year, when the windows are
required to be open, the inconvenience and loss of time are very con-
siderable.
The school also, in consequence of its rapid increase, is now but
poorly accommodated, although the house, when placed not many
22
FRAMINGHAM NORMAL SCHOOL.
years ago at the disposal of the Board, was considered very ample.
It is, therefore, much to be desired that the Board should have the
means of erecting a more commodious house in a more retired and
quiet situation.
Remembering that this was the earliest normal school in America,
that, being near the seat of government and the centre of population
of the State and on one of the great lines of communication with the
interior and with the west, it is frequently visited by strangers who
come to examine the Massachusetts school system, we confidently
hope that the Legislature will consent to make such an appropriation
as will enable the Board to erect a building which shall be in all
respects, internally and externally, creditable to the State and worthy
of the purpose for which it is erected.
The sixteenth annual report, January, 1853, says : —
By an act approved May 13, 1852, the sum of $6,000 was placed
at the disposal of the Board of Education, " to defray the expenses
of providing a more commodious site and building and the necessary
appurtenances and apparatus, for the accommodation of the State nor-
mal school now established at West Newton; " and " the Board was
directed to receive propositions from towns or individuals in aid of
these objects, and afterwards to make such selection as would, in
their opinion, best subserve the interests and accommodate the wants
of said school." The time for receiving such propositions was limited
to six months after the passage of the act. This subject the Board
have repeatedly had before them, and after careful deliberation they
have selected Framingham as the place for the school.
DESIGN OF THE SCHOOL.
It is the design of the Framingham Normal School to give : —
1. A review of the studies taught in the public schools.
2. A careful study of the history of education and the
school laws of Massachusetts.
3. A study of psychology, for the purpose of ascertaining
true principles and good methods.
4. A practical application of these principles and methods
in teaching.
5. A high estimate of the importance and responsibility of
the teacher's work, and an enthusiasm for it.
FRAMINGHAM NORMAL SCHOOL.
23
COURSES OF STUDY.
This school offers five courses, — a general two-years course,
a three-years course, a special course of one year for experienced
teachers, a special course of one year for college graduates, and
a course in household arts of two years.
I. The Two- years Course.
This course is designed primarily for those who aim to teach
in public schools below the high school grade. It comprises
substantially the following subjects : —
1. Psychology, history of education, principles of education,
methods of instruction and discipline and school organization.
2. Methods of teaching the following subjects : —
(a) English, — reading, language, rhetoric, composition and
literature.
(b) Mathematics, — arithmetic, book-keeping, elementary
algebra and geometry.
(c) Science, — elementary physics and chemistry, geog-
raphy, physiology and hygiene, and the study of minerals,
plants and animals.
(cZ) Drawing, vocal music, physical culture and manual
training.
(e) History, — civil polity of Massachusetts and the United
States, and the school laws of Massachusetts.
3. Observations and training in the practice school.
II. The Three- years Course.
This course meets the demands of certain pupils who wish,
for one cause or another, to take more time than is given in
the regular two-years course. It also can be taken by those
who wish to broaden the work offered in the regular course,
especially on the lines of history and language, — English,
French and Latin.
III. Special One-year Course for Teachers.
Teachers of considerable experience in teaching, who bring
satisfactory testimonials, may, with the consent of the principal
and of the Board of Visitors, select a course, approved by the
24
FRAMINGHAM NORMAL SCHOOL.
principal, from the general two-years course, which may be
completed in one year, and when such course is successfully
completed they shall receive a certificate for the same.
Candidates for this course are not required to take the regu-
lar entrance examination.
IV. Special One- year Course for College Graduates.
Graduates of colleges and universities, and of high schools
of a high grade and standing, who give evidence of maturity,
good scholarship and of aptness to teach, may, with the consent
of the principal of the school and of the Board of Visitors, select
from the general two-years course of study a course which may
be completed in one year, and when such course is successfully
completed they shall receive a certificate for the same.
Candidates are admitted to this course without examination.
Saturday Classes for Teachers.
All teachers who wish to do so are cordially invited to come
into the school on Saturdays, and take up any line of work in
existing classes. Classes will be formed, also, in any subject
as far as is compatible with the work of the different teachers.
Correspondence addressed to the principal will be attended to
very promptly.
All graduates of this school, or any other normal school, who
are temporarily out of employment, are earnestly invited to
become members of the school, and to remain as long as pos-
sible. There is always some work carried on at the school that
would be profitable for them to engage in.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Westfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1839.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
CHARLES S. CHAPIN, A.M., Principal.
School Law, School Economy and Principles of Teaching.
Charles B. Wilson, A.M., .... Natural Science.
Will S. Monroe, A.B., Psychology, Pedagogy and Geography.
Edith S. Copeland Drawing.
Edith L. Coimings, Manual Training and Gymnastics.
Mrs. Adeline A. Knight, .... English and History.
Mildred L. Hunter, Natural Science and Mathematics.
Sterrie A. Weaver, Vocal Music.
MODEL AND PRACTICE SCHOOLS.
Eunice M. Beebe, George S. Woodward,
E. Abbe Clark, Florence P. Axtelle,
Jennie E. Stoddard.
KINDERGARTEN.
Emma L. Hammond.
State Normal School, Westfield,
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
With the single exception of the Framingham Normal School,
which was first opened at Lexington July 3, 1839, the West-
field Normal School is the oldest in America. It was estab-
lished at Barre Sept. 4, 1839, in rooms fitted up for the purpose
in the town hall. The town raised $500 to aid in carrying on
the school. Prof. Samuel P. Newman of Bowdoin College,
an accomplished scholar and successful teacher, was principal.
The whole number of pupils connected with the Barre School
was 165, — 75 men and 90 women. The school was transferred
to Westfield in 1844. The total number of pupils admitted to
this school is 4,227, of whom 492 have been men. Since 1855,
the date of the first formal graduation, 1,584 students have re-
ceived diplomas on the completion of the prescribed course of
study.
LOCATION.
Westfield, a beautiful town of more than 12,000 inhabitants,
is located on the main line of the Boston & Albany Railroad
and on the Northampton division of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad. Springfield is distant but nine
miles, Holyoke ten, Chicopee twelve and Northampton sixteen.
Electrics run from the railroad stations past the school, and
connect Springfield and Westfield. Train service is excellent,
and the program of recitations is so arranged that most pupils
residing in adjoining cities and towns can live at home without
detriment to their school work.
Westfield is noted for its fine streets, overarched by stately
elms, and for the beauty of the surrounding country. Facil-
ities for healthful exercises, as well as for the out-door study
of geography and natural science, are abundant.
30
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.
The normal school building is new, having been occupied for
the first time April 18, 1892. It is a beautiful and commodious
structure of red brick, with trimmings of brown stone and
Romanesque portals, is 140 feet long and 118 feet deep, and
contains accommodations for 175 normal students, as well as
for the pupils of the model and practice schools.
The entire building is finished in the best selected quartered
oak. The chemical, physical, geological and mineralogical,
and biological laboratories are liberally supplied with the best
of modern apparatus and appliances and with an abundance of
specimens for study.
The art room affords excellent opportunities for training in
drawing. In addition, several well-lighted studios, plentifully
supplied with casts, models and copies, are available for indivi-
dual work.
Adjoining the main assembly hall is a convenient library of
well-selected books for use in all departments of the work of
the school.
The sloyd room is equipped with nineteen benches and with
all tools and material necessary for instructing normal students-
in a most comprehensive course of manual training for elemen-
tary schools.
The gymnasium is large and well lighted, and is provided
with all apparatus for class work, as well as for individual
exercise.
In a word, no school building in the State has a more com-
plete equipment for preparing teachers to fill positions in the
best of modern schools.
The ample grounds adjoining the school afford opportunity
for lawn tennis, basket-ball and general exercise.
TRAINING SCHOOLS.
In the normal school building are five rooms, accommodating
142 pupils, of the usual nine grades of the public schools, and
a kindergarten of 25 children.
The State is now erecting a new training school building, at
a cost of $45,000, on the site of the old normal school on Wash-
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
31
ington Street, within a stone's throw of Normal Hall. This
building contains ten class-rooms, with ample accommodations
for 450 children, a large library, principal's office, teachers'
room, an assembly hall with seats for 500, play-rooms, bath-
rooms, bicycle room, and is furnished with an electric time
service, speaking-tubes, thermostatic heat control, and a liberal
equipment for the teaching of geography and nature study.
With the opening of the school year in September there will
be available for training purposes, in both buildings, sixteen
rooms, containing more than 600 pupils.
The pupils of the senior class of the normal school are di-
vided into three sections, each section devoting the entire time
of one term of thirteen weeks to observation and teaching in
the training schools under expert supervision.
No ampler provision for training teachers for the actual work
of their profession has been made by any normal school in the
country.
COURSES OF STUDY.
This school offers a general two-years course, a three-years
course, a special course of one year for college graduates, a
kindergarten course and a special course for teachers.
I. General Two- years Course.
The general course of study for two years comprises the fol-
lowing subjects : —
1. Psychology, history of education, principles of educa-
tion, methods of instruction and discipline, school organization,
school laws of Massachusetts.
2. Methods of teaching the following subjects : —
(a) English, — reading, language, composition, literature,
history.
(b) Mathematics, — arithmetic, book-keeping, elementary
algebra and geometry.
(c) Science, — elementary physics and chemistry, geography,
physiology and hygiene, study of minerals, plants and animals.
(c?) Drawing, vocal music, physical training, manual train-
ing.
3. Observation and practice in the training school and
observation in other public schools.
32
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
II. Three-years Course.
The Board of Visitors and the principal of any normal school
may arrange for a third year of practice and study in teaching
under supervision for its graduates, whenever in their judgment
such action is desirable. The object of this course shall be a
more complete mastery of the topics arranged for the regular
two-years course and further work in the practice schools ; this
work in the practice schools shall be under the direct super-
vision of a teacher of the normal school or of a teacher specially
approved for that purpose.
III. Special Course of One Year for College Graduates.
Graduates of colleges and universities, and graduates of high
schools of a high grade and standing who give evidence of
maturity, good scholarship and of aptness to teach, may, with
the consent of the principal of the school and of the Board of
Visitors, select from the general two-years course of study a
course which may be completed in one year, and when such
course is sucessfully completed they shall receive a certificate
for the same.
IV. Kindergarten Course.
The kindergarten course requires two years for its comple-
tion. The first year's work is the same as that of the general
two-years course, except that literature is substituted for arith-
metic, and child study and history are substituted for English
grammar and geography. During the second year the pupil
spends all her mornings in the practical work of the kinder-
garten and her afternoons in the study of the theory and the
history of the kindergarten. No tuition is charged those who
complete the course.
Every candidate for this course should have \iot only the
qualifications required for admission to the general two-years
course, but should in addition have some facility in playing the
piano and in singing.
Students pay the cost of materials used by them, but this
expense does not exceed ten dollars for the course.
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
35
V. Special Courses for Teachers.
Teachers of three years' experience in teaching, who give
evidence of maturity, good scholarship and aptness to teach,
may, with the consent of the principal and the Board of Visit-
ors, select a course which may be completed in one year, and
when such course is successfully completed they shall receive a
certificate for the same.
NOTE.
Experienced observers of public school problems are agreed
that the high schools can no longer furnish employment for all
college graduates who wish to teach. An increasing number
of such graduates must hereafter -find their work in the grammar
schools. It is for this class especially that Course III. has been
planned.
The course is entirely professional, including psychology,
history of education, science and art of teaching, school organi-
zation, school discipline, school laws of Massachusetts, methods
of instruction adapted to pupils in grammar schools, and a close
study of the model schools and of the best schools of the vicinity.
GRADUATION, DIPLOMAS AND CERTIFICATES.
The satisfactory completion of any one of the courses num-
bered L, II., IV., entitles the pupil to receive a diploma of
graduation. Those who for any reason are unable to do all
the work of a course, will, on application, receive a certificate
stating the exact amount of work done. Those who complete
Course III. or Course V. receive certificates, not diplomas.
THE STUDY OF CHILDREN.
A study of the spontaneous activities of children is a part of
the training furnished by this school for the classes in pyschol-
ogy ; and for this work large numbers of tests, observations
and compositions are needed from the children of the different
grades in the public schools. Among the special studies arc
children's societies, their interests in reading, collecting instincts,
impulsive actions, fatigue symptoms, sense defects, mental and
physical abnormalities ; and many lists and descriptions of tra-
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
ditional games, observations on social traits, chumming, etc.,
are desired for the use of students.
Graduates of the school and others engaged in teaching may
co-operate with the school by giving the tests and making the
observations in their schools, and sending the results.
NORMAL HALL.
An accurate representation of the dormitory is given in the
cut presented. This building is in charge of the principal.
Several of the teachers board with the students, and no pains
are spared to make the hall comfortable and home-like for the
pupils. The educational and social advantages of this common
family life are many and important.
Pupils who do not live in West-field, and who do not return
to their homes daily, are expected to board at the hall. Ex-
ceptions are made in favor of those who board with relatives
or work for their board in private families.
A library of choice works for general reading, and a pleasant
reading-room containing newspapers, the leading magazines
and a variety of periodical literature, are provided for the daily
use of the students.
The hall is kept in a good state of repair, is heated through-
out with steam and is illuminated by the Welsbach light. The
dining-room has recently been refurnished and new furniture
has been placed in the students' rooms.
Every possible precaution is taken to secure this building
from danger by fire. A private fire-alarm box connects the
hall with the central fire station of the town, which is situated
near by ; extinguishers and grenades are provided on every
floor ; an electric system for alarming students is installed ;
and a watchman patrols every part of the building each hour
of the night.
The price of board for the school year is $160, payable in
advance ; $40 must be paid by each student at the beginning
of the school year in September, $40 on November 15, $40 on
February 1 and $40 on April 15.
These rates include board, furnished room (except as below),
steam heat, gas and laundry, for such time as the school is in
session, and for the Thanksgiving recess, but for no other re-
WESTFIELD NORMAL SCHOOL.
35
cess or vacation. Pupils whose homes are at a distance may,
on permission of the principal, remain at the hall during any
vacation, except the long one in the summer, on payment of
the additional sum of $4 per week during such vacation. The
hall is closed during the summer.
The above rates are for those who have room-mates. If there
are vacant rooms, those who wish to room alone may do so, on
payment of the additional charge of fifty cents per week.
Rooms are assigned to new pupils in order of application.
Those desiring rooms should notify the preceptress as soon as
possible after their admission to the school.
When pupils leave the school before the expiration of a term,
money paid in advance will be refunded pro rata.
No deduction is made for temporary absence from the hall.
Each boarder is required to bring bedding, towels, napkins,
a napkin ring and two clothes-bags. Each pupil will want,
ordinarily, four pillow-cases twenty inches wide, three sheets
and two blankets or their equivalent. All bedding should be
suitable for single beds three feet wide. All articles sent to
the laundry must be distinctly marked with the owner's name.
This school is always open to the inspection of the public. A
cordial invitation is extended to teachers, school committees
and superintendents to visit at their convenience.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1839.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
ALBERT GARDNER BOYDEN, A.M., Principal.
Educational Study o f Man.
ARTHUR CLARKE BOYDEN, A.M., Vice-Principal.
Natural Science, History and Civil Polity.
Franz Heinkich Kirmayer, Ph.D.,
William Dunham Jackson,
Charles Peter Sinnott, B.S.
Harlan Page Shaw, .
Frank Ellis Gurney,
Isabelle Sara Horne,
Clara Coffin Prince,
Fanny Amanda Com stock,
Elizabeth Helen Perry,
Emily Curtis Fisher,
Bessie Louise Barnes,
Li li. i e Eveline Merritt,
Classics and Modern Languages.
Science, English Literature, Mathematics.
Natural Science, Geography.
Physical Science, Industrial Laboratory .
Latin, Astronomy, Book-keeping.
Vocal Culture and Readi?ig.
Vocal Music, Mathematics .
Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Botany.
Dratcifig.
English, Geometry.
Physiology, Physical Training.
Assistant in Draicing.
MODEL SCHOOL.
Lillian Anderson Hicks, Supervisor of Practice Work.
Brenelle Hunt, Principal.
Adelaide Reed, Jennie Bennett,
Martha May Burnell, Mary Lucinda Wallace,
Hannah Elizabeth Turner, Sarah Wheaton Turner,
Nellie Mabel Bennett, Sarah Ellen Pratt,
Flora May Stuart.
KINDERGARTEN.
Anne Morgan Wells, Frances Plympton Keyes.
LABORATORY FOR ZOOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY.
LABORATORY FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY.
State Normal School, Bridgewater.
This school is one of the first three State normal schools on
this continent.
Hon. Edmund D wight of Boston offered to furnish $10,000,
' 'to be expended under the direction of the Board of Educa-
tion for qualifying teachers for our common schools," on condi-
tion that the Legislature would appropriate for the same purpose
an equal amount. On the 19th of April, 1838, the Legislature
passed a resolve accepting this offer. The Board decided to
establish three schools for the education of teachers, each to
be continued three years, as an experiment, and on May 30,
1838, voted to establish one of these schools in the county of
Plymouth. On Dec. 28, 1838, the Board voted to establish
the other two at Lexington and Barre. Prominent men in
Plymouth County spent two years in the endeavor to raise
$10,000 for the erection of new buildings for the school. The
towns of Abington, Wareham, Plymouth, Duxbury and Marsh-
field voted to make appropriations for the school from the
surplus revenue which had just before been divided by the gen-
eral government. After vigorous competition it w^as decided
to locate the school at Bridgewater. Bridgewater granted to
the school the free use of its town hall for three years, and the
next three years the school paid a rental of fifty dollars a year.
Here, by the skill and genius of its first principal, Nicholas
Tillinghast, the experiment of a State normal school in the Old
Colony was successfully performed. In 1846 the State, with the
liberal co-operation of the town of Bridgewater and its citizens,
provided a permanent home for the school in the first State
normal school building erected in America. The school was
opened Sept. 9, 1840, with a class of 28 pupils, — 7 men and
21 women. It has had only three principals.
42
BRIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
DESIGN OF THE SCHOOL.
The design of the normal school is to train teachers for the
public schools of the Commonwealth. To accomplish this end
there must be : —
The inspiration of its students with the spirit of the true
teacher.
The analysis of the subjects to be used as a means in teaching,
to learn why, how much and how these are to be used.
The educational study of man, body and mind, for the prin-
ciples of education and the method of teaching.
The study of the art of teaching, school organization and
government, school laws and the history of education.
Observation and teaching in the model school. Child study.
COURSES.
The Two-years Course.
1. The educational study of man, for the principles of educa-
tion, the art of teaching, school organization, school govern-
ment and the history of education.
2. The analysis of the following subjects, for knowledge of
the principles, the method of teaching and the educational
value of each : —
Mathematics. — Arithmetic and book-keeping, elementary
algebra and geometry.
Nature Studies. — Minerals, plants, animals, physical force,
chemical force, geological agencies, geography, the human body,
physical training and manual training.
Language. — English, reading, grammar, rhetoric, composi-
tion, literature, drawing, vocal music.
History. — Civil polity of Massachusetts and the United
States, and the school laws of Massachusetts.
Observation and practice in the model school.
The graduates of this course are in quick demand for teach-
ing in primary and grammar grades.
The Three-years Course.
This course includes the subjects of the two-years course,
with electives from the advance studies of the four-years course.
It also gives opportunity for more extended practice in the
BRIDGE WATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
43
model school. This broader preparation fits the graduates from
this course for the better positions in primary and upper
grammar grades and for departmental teaching in these grades ;
it also meets the wants of those who need to take more time
for the completion of the two-years course.
The Four-years Course.
This course, which is a distinct course from the beginning,
includes the maximum work in the subjects of the two-years
course and the following subjects for the same ends : —
Mathematics. — Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and sur-
veying.
Science. — Physics, chemistry and mineralogy, botany, zool-
ogy, geology, astronomy.
Language. — Reading, drawing, English literature, Latin and
French required ; Greek and German, as the principal and
visitors of the school shall decide.
History. — General history, history of education.
This course fits the graduates from it to be principals of
grammar schools and of some high schools, principal's assistants
and assistants in high schools ; and not a few, after successful
experience in teaching, have become superintendents of schools
and teachers in normal schools.
Advanced Course for College Graduates.
The subjects of the advanced course of study for two years
are as follows : —
The educational study of man, for the principles of educa-
tion, art of teaching, school organization, school government,
history of education, school laws of Massachusetts.
The educational study of the following subjects : —
Language and Literature. — English, French, German,
Latin and Greek.
Mathematics. — Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry
and surveying.
Science. — Chemistry, physics, astronomy, physical geogra-
phy, geology, mineralogy, botany, zoology, physiology.
Llistory, drawing, vocal music, physical culture, manual
training.
Persons of exceptional maturity may, with the approval of
44
BRIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
the principal of the school and the Board of Visitors, select
from the above curriculum of study a course which may be
completed in one year, and when such course is successfully
completed they shall receive a certificate for the same. The
requirement for admission to the advanced course of two years
shall be a college course or its equivalent.
The work is adapted to the special needs of the class. All
the facilities of the normal and model schools are available.
The graduates from this department have all found good posi-
tions.
Special Courses for Teachers.
Teachers of five years experience in teaching, who bring sat-
isfactory recommendations, may, with the consent of the prin-
cipal and of the Board of Visitors, select a course, including
the course in the educational study of man, which may be com-
pleted in one year, and when such course is successfully com-
pleted they shall receive a certificate for the same. Graduates
of this course have been in quick demand.
Graduates of normal schools may select a post-graduate
course of one or two years, including the educational study of
man.
Kindergarten.
The kindergarten course requires not less than two years for
its completion, — one year or more of study and training in
the two-years course, including the educational study of man
and those studies which are essential to kindergarten work, and
one year of practical work with the children and in the theory
and history of the kindergarten. Students well prepared to
enter upon this course may complete it in two years ; but a
longer time is needed in most cases to make one competent to
be principal of a kindergarten, which is one of the most re-
sponsible positions in the whole range of teaching. It is very
desirable that the student should have the full two-years course
and one year added for the special kindergarten training.
LABORATORIES AND LIBRARY.
The institution has seven laboratories, furnished with the
approved modern appliances for teaching how to teach and
study the physical and natural sciences.
BRIDGE WATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
45
Physical Laboratories. — In the department of physics there
are two laboratories, with a room adjoining for the instructor.
One is arranged with accommodations for students to work at
the tables. The other is arranged with a laboratory table for
teaching, and with apparatus for projection, for the illustration
of various subjects.
Chemical Laboratories. — The department of chemistry has
two laboratories, with a room adjoining for the instructor.
One, for the elementary course, is arranged with accommoda-
tions for students to work at the tables, and with a teacher's
chemical table and blackboard, with the seats for the class, thus
combining the laboratory and class-room. The other, for the
advanced analytical work, qualitative and quantitative, is ar-
ranged with accommodations for students to work at the tables,
and with side tables for special work.
Mineralogical and Geological Laboratory. — This room is ar-
ranged for students to work at the tables. The tables are
furnished for physical and chemical tests and blow-pipe work.
The room is provided with three sets of specimens : one set of
working specimens, containing a collection of minerals for each
student to use at the table ; one set in cabinets, arranged for
the study of comparative and systematic mineralogy ; and a set
in cases, illustrating classification of minerals. Similar sets
of rocks and fossils are provided for the study of geology.
Biological Laboratory. — This laboratory is arranged for the
study of botany, zoology and physiology, and includes two
rooms, arranged for students to work at the tables. Each room
contains three collections of typical specimens — the working
collection, the comparative collection and the classified collection
— and stands for microscopic work. The collections in all the
departments are arranged and labelled for constant use by the
students.
Geographical Laboratory. — This laboratory is equipped with
a thirty-six-inch globe, slated globes, individual globes, the lat-
est and best physical and political maps for all grades of work,
pictures classified for class use, models of the continents and
Massachusetts, modelling boards, productions in both the raw
and manufactured states. Apparatus for projection is provided
for illustration of biology and geography.
46
BRIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
Industrial Laboratory. — In this laboratory the students are
taught to use tools in making sets of apparatus for use in the
different studies of the course, which enable them to secure in-
expensive apparatus for their own schools. It is furnished
with carpenters benches and sets of tools, and a turning lathe
with a circular saw and jig saw attachment.
Library. — The school has a valuable library of books for
reference, with a card catalogue arranged for direct use in the
studies of the course. The library is arranged in two large
rooms, one containing books on history and literature, arranged
with tables for research on the library plan, the other arranged
for pedagogical study. Each department of the school also
has its own library arranged for consultation.
PRINCIPLES AND METHOD OF THE SCHOOL.
Principles. — The ultimate object of the normal school is to
make the normal student, as far as possible, an educator.
Teachers have the organization, the teaching and training of
the schools committed to their hands. They direct and control
the activities of the children while they are forming habits and
laying the foundations of character. The teacher should be
able to train the child to the best use of all his power.
The first distinctive principle of normal school work is that
the normal student is to be a teacher. He is to consider the
acquisition and use of knowledge, the exercises of the school,
his own spirit, purpose, manners and conduct, from the point
of view of the educator.
From this point of view he must know the process by which
the mind acquires the ideas to be learned, and must be able to
present objects of thought to the learner in such a way as to
incite him to right activity. To this end he must make a thor-
ough analysis of each subject in the course of studies, and learn
how to use it in teaching. He must be master of the subject,
that he may give his attention to the action of the pupil's mind
in learning.
The course of studies in the normal school must include the
subjects embraced in the course of studies for the public school.
In the latter, these subjects are studied as a means to general
culture ; in the former, they are studied as educational instru-
ments.
BBIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
47
The second distinctive principle is that the normal student is
to he educated for his special work. He is to be trained to
comprehend and apply the principles of education, that he
may be able to conduct his own school to the education of his
pupils.
The principles of education are derived from the study of the
action of the human mind and body. The method of teaching
is determined by these principles. The mind is developed by
the right exertion of its power. The teacher must know how
the mind is called into right exertion, and the products of this
activity; and he must know the pupil as an individual.
Presenting the proper objects of thought to the mind, with
the use of such motives as will secure right moral action,
occasions right activity and its products, knowledge, rational
power and good character. The repeated right exertion of the
mind in the acquisition and use of knowledge causes the devel-
opment and growth of the man.
A course of studies is the means to that teaching and train-
ing which occasions the activity that causes the development
of the mind. The course needed for this purpose is a series
of subjects logically progressive, and adapted to the order of
mental development. It includes studies for training the mind
to perceive, remember and imagine, in the acquisition and ex-
pression of distinct ideas of individual objects, as the basis of
the studies for training the mind to reflect in the acquisition
and expression of general ideas and truths, in the way that
will best promote the esthetic, moral and spiritual life of the
man.
Method. — The students are led through the analysis of each
subject in the course, to learn why it should be studied, to
ascertain its pedagogical value and to learn how to use it in
teaching.
In the common school studies the outline is divided into the
elementary course, in which the work is laid out in detail for
each year of the lower grades ; and the secondary course, which
is laid out in the same way for the higher grades.
The students are taught how to acquire the knovjledge of the
object or subject, by teaching them how to study the lesson at
the time it is assigned, and requiring them to present to the
class the results of their study, with criticism by the class and
4S
BRIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
the teacher. After presentation the class is thoroughly ques-
tioned on all the important points in the lesson.
The students are taught the method of teaching a class in the
subject, by being taught parts of the subject, and after they
have studied the lesson, examining them upon their knowledge
of the method by having them teach the class the same thing.
When they have acquired the idea of the method by this imita-
tive teaching, a part of the subject is assigned to the student
without being previously taught, and he is required to study
the subject, prepare the apparatus and illustrations and teach
the class, with criticisms from the class and the teacher. The
students are also required to drill the class in the application
of what has been taught, to examine them on what they have
studied and to do all kinds of class work. The students also
observe the teaching of the subjects by the regular teachers in
the model school.
The presenting and teaching by the students require thorough
consideration of the lessons ; the student must know the subject
and its logical arrangement, and how to present and teach it,
or fail. This training gives the student command of himself,
of the subject, of the class ; makes him self-reliant, develops
his individuality.
Text-books are freely used for reference in the preparation of
lessons. The committing of text-books to memory is avoided,
the students being trained .to depend upon objects of thought
rather than upon words.
All the class exercises, from the beginning of the course, are
conducted upon the principles and by the method that have
been indicated. The school is a normal training school in all
its course.
After this teaching and training in the method of using sub-
jects in teaching, the students learn the philosophy of their
work by finding in the educational study of man the principles
of education which underlie the method they have learned to
use. With this preparation in their own class work, the
students go to their work in the model school.
BRIDGEWATER NORMAL SCHOOL.
49
THE MODEL SCHOOL.
The model school has a prominent place in the training of
the students for their work in the public schools. Its purpose
is to exemplify the mode of conducting a good public school,
and to train the normal students in observing and teaching
children. It occupies nearly one-third of the school building,
is under the general supervision of the principal of the normal
school, and the direct supervision of the vice-principal, and in-
cludes the kindergarten and the nine elementary grades of the
public school of the centre of the town. It has twelve teach-
ers — a principal and a regular teacher for each grade. The
students, after careful observation, to become acquainted with
the children, serve as assistants, take charge of the class, teach
classes in different subjects and have some practice in depart-
mental teaching. The last year of the normal course is used
for this work.
The students of the normal school have a definite course in
practical child study, under careful direction, and make reports
on their study. Such study includes the school as a whole, the
observation of all the details of school work in different grades,
the physical condition of the school, the character of the pupils,
their intellectual condition, the home and social life of the
community. First the names of the children in the class are
learned, and the power to recognize the children is acquired ;
then attention is given to the different sorts of pupils in the
school, — those who are leaders, those who would prevent good
work and discipline in the school, those who fail to do the best
for themselves but do not interfere with others, those much
above or below the average of the class, those whose work is
much above that of their classmates, those whose work is very
poor, and all others in the class.
This study also includes the individual child, his relation to
his class, his physical condition, his intellectual condition, his
moral qualities, his home and social life and his adaptation to
special work, aiming in each case to find out the cause of his
condition, the effect of that condition and the remedy for it
when it is abnormal; it aims also to discover the habits which
the child has formed, noting particularly those things in which
he differs from ordinary children, or which are especially char-
acteristic of him.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1854.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
WALTER P. BECKWITH, Ph.D., Principal.
Psychology, Pedagogy, School Lates.
Ellen M. Dodge, English Literature.
Harriet L. Martin, Algebra, Geometry.
Jessie P. Learoyd, Botany, English Grammar.
Charles E. Adams Physics, Chemistry.
Charles F. Whitney, .... Drawing and Art.
Mary A. Comey History, Penmanship, Arithmetic.
William C. Moore, S.B., .... Mineralogy, Geology, Geography.
M. Alice Warren, Biology, Physiology, Physical Training.
Florence M. Snell, A.M English Literature.
Vesta H. Sawtelle Music.
Florence P. Salisbury Reading, Physical Training,
Isabella G. Knight, A.B., . . . Library, Records.
MODEL SCHOOL.
Maud S. Wheeler Fourth and Fifth Grades.
Bertha H. DesJardins, .... Second and Third Grades.
M. Maud Vauston, . . . . * . First Grade.
Harriet E. Richmond, .... Kindergarten.
Amy H. Nye (Assistant), .... Kindergarten.
State Normal School, Salem.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The first suggestion of Salem as a suitable place for the loca-
tion of a State normal school was made in 1852. A proposi-
tion was under consideration for the removal of the school then
in operation at West Newton to some other place. The sug-
gestion arose in a conversation between Hon. Charles W.
Upham, then mayor of the city, Gov. George S. Bout well and
the secretary and some members of the Board of Education.
Nothing came of the matter at that time, as the school was re-
moved to Framingham. But when the determination was made
at a later date to establish another normal school in addition to
the three already existing, the Legislature determined that the
location should be somewhere in Essex County ; and the pro-
posal of Salem to provide a site and to erect and furnish the
building — the State to pay $6,000 and the Eastern Railroad
Company to contribute $2,000 — was accepted. The entire
cost of the building, with the furnishing and the site, when
turned over to the State, was about $17,000. The Legislature
later appropriated $2,500 in addition, which was expended in
grading and fencing the lot and in the purchase of furniture and
books.
The building was dedicated and the school opened Sept. 14,
1854. The address was delivered by Hon. George S. Bout-
well, and shorter speeches were made by Barnas Sears, secre-
tary of the State Board of Education, and others. The
building was formally presented to the State by Mayor Joseph
Andrews, and accepted by Gov. Emory Washburn.
There were 72 students admitted to the school, of whom 48
were subsequently graduated.
The original building, located at the corner of Broad and
Summer streets, served the needs of the school until 1870,
when growing membership and needs necessitated an enlarge-
50
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
merit, for which the Legislature made an appropriation of
$25,000. This also finally proved inadequate to meet the in-
creased demands made upon modern normal schools. The
Legislature, therefore, in response to the representations and
requests of the Board of Visitors and of the principal of the
school, made generous provision, finally aggregating about
$275,000 for a new building.
Work was begun upon the new building in November, 1893,
and it was first occupied for school purposes Dec. 2, 1896.
Formal dedicatory exercises were held Jan. 26, 1897.
On the occasion of the dedication there was a large assem-
blage of interested persons, representing the State and city
governments and including many of the former teachers and
students, as well as others from far and near who were inter-
ested in the work of education. Rev. Elmer H. Capen, D.D.,
chairman of the Board of Visitors, presided, and the exercises
included a brief history of the school by Miss Ellen M. Dodge,
the senior teacher in service, a scholarly and instructive ad-
dress by Prof. John Bascom of Williamstown, and a prayer of
dedication by Rev. Dewitt S. Clark, D.D., of Salem. Brief
congratulatory remarks were made by Hon. Hosea M. Knowl-
ton, Attorney-General, representing His Excellency Governor
Wolcott ; Hon. James H. Turner, mayor of Salem; Hon.
Alfred S. Roe, representing the Legislature ; Rev. Albert E.
Winship ; Principal Albert G. Boyden of Bridgewater ; and
Secretary Frank A. Hill. Music was furnished by the students
of the school. At the same time diplomas were awarded to 9
students, who had completed the two-years course, constituting
the last of the mid-year classes.
THE SCHOOL BUILDING.
The new building is located in the southern part of the city,
— a section devoted chiefly to residential purposes, — in a com-
manding position at the junction of the electric car lines from
Lynn and Marblehead. It is constructed of buff brick, with
light-colored stone and terra-cotta trimmings, and it has three
stories and a basement. Facing northward, it is 180 feet in
length from east to west, and the two wings are each 140 feet
from north to south. In the basement are located the heating
and ventilating apparatus, the toilet and play rooms for the
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
57
pupils of the model schools, besides a fine gymnasium with its
adjoining dressing room, the industrial laboratory, lunch room,
various store rooms for supplies and materials, and other valu-
able facilities.
On the first floor, in the central part of the structure, are
the toilet and cloak rooms, provided with individual lockers,
for the use of the normal students. Access to this portion
of the building is provided by means of two outside doors.
In each wing is another entrance for the pupils of the model
schools. The rooms for these schools — nine in number, be-
sides four recitation rooms connected with them — are upon
the east, south and west sides, and are all large and light.
Including the kindergarten, they are intended to accommodate
more than 300 pupils. The building is so planned that these
rooms are entirely distinct from the quarters of the normal
school proper, and the stairways to the basement are so placed
that their use by the children at recesses and at other times
will not disturb in the least the work of the normal students ;
but easy communication between the two departments is also
provided.
The central portion of the second floor is occupied by the
fine assembly and study room of the normal school. It is about
60 by 85 feet in size, and can accommodate 250 single desks
and chairs. The remainder of the floor contains the principal's
office, reception room, teachers' meeting room, retiring room,
text-book room, library, and other recitation and work rooms.
The third floor is largely devoted to the various departments
of science, including physics and chemistry, both elementary
and advanced, botany, geography, mineralogy, zoology, etc.
One of the features is an excellent lecture room, with seats
arranged in tiers, for lectures or other w T ork by instructors in
science, lessons in music and the like. Two fine rooms on the
north side furnish admirable accommodations for the work in
drawing.
One of the most conspicuous features of the building is found
in the size and lighting of the rooms ; in fact, it is hard to see
how the lighting could be improved. The corridors are also
noticeable for their width and cheerful aspect. The windows
are many and lofty, and the glass is of the finest and clearest
quality.
58
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
The heating and ventilating plant is ample ; the blackboards,
entirely of slate, are generous in size ; combination gas and
electric chandeliers are provided for lighting ; from the prin-
cipal's office speaking tubes radiate to all the important rooms ;
while a program clock, with its electric appliances, regulates
the movements of the school. The interior finish throughout
is of handsome oak, and all the furniture of the building is in
keeping. Upon the walls are many handsome pictures and
other artistic decorations, provided by the State, by past stu-
dents and teachers of the school and by other generous friends.
THE MEMBERSHIP.
Including the beginning of the school year 1899-1900, 87
classes have been admitted and 85 have been graduated. In
all, there have been admitted to the school 4,526 persons, of
whom 2,280 have been graduated and 2 have received certifi-
cates for the completion of a year's special course. Also, 130
of the graduates have in addition received diplomas for the
completion of an advanced course of two years. The mem-
bership of the school during the current year has been 231.
THE COURSES OF STUDY.
The school at first offered a course of study embracing a
period of one and one-half years. Later this was extended to
two years. An advanced course of two years, including con-
siderable work in foreign languages, was framed, and 130 of
the graduates of the school have also graduated from this
advanced course. But of late years the number of students
desiring to take the advanced course had become very much
reduced, and it was decided that the teaching involved in its
maintenance w r as too expensive. It has therefore been abol-
ished ; and at present the entire energies of the school are
devoted to the two-years course, which aims to train teachers
for the primary and grammar schools.
General Two- years Course.
The general course of study is designed primarily for those
who aim to teach in public schools below the high school grade.
It comprises substantially the following subjects : —
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
59
1. Psychology, history of education, principles of education,
methods of instruction and discipline, school organization and
the school laws of Massachusetts.
2. Methods of teaching the following subjects : —
(a) English, — reading, language, rhetoric, composition,
literature and history.
(b) Mathematics, — arithmetic, book-keeping, elementary
algebra and geometry.
(c) Science, — elementary physics and chemistry, geogra-
phy, physiology and hygiene, and the study of minerals, plants
and animals.
(d) Drawing, vocal music, physical culture and manual
training.
3. Observation in the model schools and in other public
schools.
The course of study at this school is arranged upon the plan
of putting into the first or junior year that work which does
most to broaden the student's knowledge of subjects, leaving
the application of this to the review of grammar school subjects
in the second or senior year. But while this course, thoroughly
pursued, must of necessity greatly broaden the student's knowl-
edge of subject-matter, the work is all done in such a manner
as to keep in constant view the professional aim of normal
school study. The realization of the professional purpose is
thus constantlv increasing throughout the course, and is con-
stantly more and more absorbing the thought and attention of
the student.
"Work in drawing, music, reading and calisthenics is con-
tinued throughout the entire two years.
Students are sometimes found who are believed to be capable
of good work, but, by reason of immaturity or previous lack of
thoroughness, are unable to complete the course in two years.
In such cases the work is immediately arranged upon a basis
of taking an extra term or year, as the case requires.
The course of study includes the branches prescribed by the
State Board of Education. The arrangement of the order in
which these are taken varies considerably at the different normal
schools. At Salem the principle is adopted that studies with
a large culture element shall be pursued in the first year ; while
80
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
those strictly professional, or largely dealing with methods, are
taken in the second year.
It is not improbable that a post-graduate course of one year
may be added in the near future.
Special Students.
College graduates, graduates of normal schools and other
persons of equivalent attainments, also persons of maturity
who have had successful experience in teaching, may, by ar-
rangement with the principal, select a year's work from the
regular program, embracing not less than twenty recitation
periods per week, and including the course in psychology and
pedagogy, and receive a certificate for the same upon its satis-
factory completion. Prompt and regular attendance is exacted
of these students, as well as of those in the usual course.
The design of the school does not include the admission of
transient students, for the purpose" of taking partial or special
courses, except in cases which are really exceptional. Per-
sonal culture, for its own sake, is not the end for which the
school receives its students. It exists and will be administered
for the training and improvement of teachers, and all its facili-
ties will be put to their utmost use for the advantage of
teachers. Thus, during the past two years, many teachers
have been allowed to attend the exercises in selected depart-
ments, — so far as the privilege could be granted without injury
to regular class work, — although their names have not ap-
peared in the catalogue as students. In other cases, it is some-
times found possible for those who have had experience in
teaching, without a previous normal course, to enter the school
and derive great benefit from even a single term's work. Vis-
itors are always welcome.
GENERAL INFORMATION.
The Location and Attractions of Salem.
No place in north-eastern Massachusetts is more easily acces-
sible than Salem. It is on the main line of the eastern division
of the Boston & Maine Railroad system, connecting also with
the Saugus Branch at Lynn. A branch road to Wakefield
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
61
Junction connects the city with the western division. There
is also direct communication with Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill,
Rockport, Marblehead and intervening points. Trains are
frequent and convenient. Salem is also the centre of an ox-
tensive network of electric railways, which greatly increase the
convenience of travel within a radius of ten or fifteen miles.
Students coming daily to Salem on the steam cars can obtain
season tickets at greatly reduced rates. The local electric road
gives all such a rate of three cents from the Salem station to the
normal school building.
Salem is the centre of many interesting historical associations,
and within easy reach are the scenes of more important and
stirring events than can be found in any other equal area of
our country. The scenery, both of seashore and country, in
the neighborhood, is exceedingly attractive. There are many
libraries, including the free public library, and curious and in-
stinctive collections belonging to various literary and antiqua-
rian organizations, to which access may be obtained at a slight
expense. Lectures are frequent and inexpensive. The churches
of the city represent all the religious denominations that are
common in New England.
The Library and Reading Room.
One of the fine corner rooms on the second floor of the build-
ing, conveniently reached from the main study hall, has been
set apart for the general library of the school. The general
library is well equipped in the departments of history, biog-
raphy, pedagogy, poetry, dramatic and miscellaneous literat-
ure, and in works of reference. Considerable additions have
been made during recent years, and it is hoped that these addi-
tions may be continued. The best periodicals of the day are
also provided, and will be kept on file for the use of the
students.
The general library has recently been recatalogued by one of
the teachers. A complete card catalogue by authors and titles
has been made, and a system of references by topics will be
undertaken as soon as possible. In addition to public docu-
ments and sample text-books covering a period of many year-,
there are now 3,394 volumes on the list.
62
SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL.
It is earnestly intended that the room may be made an actual
laboratory or work room, where a great deal of studying may
be done. To this end the room is constantly open on school
days, and the formalities connected with the proper use of the
books are reduced to a minimum.
Summer Institute.
During each of the last three summers, in the first week of
July, an institute has been held in the building, under the joint
auspices of the State Board of Education and the North Shore
Summer School Association. At each session more than five
hundred teachers have been in attendance. It is expected that
this will become a permanent feature.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1874.
Instructors.
E. HARLOW RUSSELL, Principal.
Principles of Education, Theory and Art of Teaching, Reading, Psychology of
Childhood.
Miss Rebecca Jones, Elementary Methods, Supervision of Ap-
prentices, Sewing, Cooking.
Charles F. Adams, Arithmetic, Geography, Geology, Physics.
Miss Helen F. Marsh, .... Music, Drawing.
Miss Ellen M. Haskell, .... History of Education, Civics, General
Method, English.
Edward L. Sumner Choral Si7iging.
Miss Arabella H. Tucker (Clerk), . Botany, Penmanship.
Miss E. Louise Richards, . . . Head Kinder gartner.
Miss Olive Russell, Assistant Kinder gartner.
Miss Anna P. Smith (Librarian), . . Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Methods,
Supervision of Apprentices.
Miss Amy L. Boyden, .... Head Teacher of Primary Class, Element-
ary Methods.
Miss Henrietta A. Murray, . . . Gymnastics, School Games.
Frank Drew, Physiology, Psychology, Principles of
Teaching, Nature Study.
Horace G. Brown, English Grammar, Composition, History.
Miss Emma A. Pike, English, Algebra, Methods, Supervision
of Apprentices.
Miss Laura L. Boice, .... History of Education, Psychology of Child-
hood, General Method, Nature Study,
Supervision of Apprentices.
State Normal School, Worcester.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The following extract, from the thirty-seventh annual report
(1872-73) of the Board of Education, gives in outline a history
of the establishment of this school : —
By the terms of a resolve which went into effect on the twenty-fifth
day of June, 1871, the Board of Education were authorized and re-
quired to establish a State normal school in the city of Worcester ;
and the trustees of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital were authorized
and required to convey to the Board of Education and its successors
a tract of land of not more than five acres, to be located by the
Governor and Council, within certain limits fixed in the resolve. An
appropriation of $60,000 was made, upon condition that the city of
Worcester should pay the Board of Education for the purposes named
in the resolve the sum of 815,000. This condition was promptly
complied with. The tract was located by the Governor and Council,
Sept. 2, 1871; and on the nineteenth day of September, 1871, the
conveyance was made by the trustees of the hospital to the Board of
Education and its successors in trust, as directed.
The tract of land located is upon Hospital Hill in Hospital Grove
(formerly so called) , within a short distance of the new union depot
now in process of erection, — a point at which, when the railroad
arrangements now in progress shall be completed, pupils residing on
the line of either of the roads leading into the city of Worcester can
arrive in season for the commencement of school each day, and take
the cars to return after the school exercises are finished.
The building is of stone, capacious, conveniently arranged,
massive and handsome in external appearance. The beautiful
eminence upon which it stands commands an extensive and
varied view of city, village and country. The building is 128
68
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
feet long and 88 feet wide, three stories in height, with "a
French roof. The lot is five acres in area, and naturally
picturesque. The school was opened Sept. 15, 1874, under
the charge of Mr. E. Harlow Russell, the present principal.
THE GYMNASIUM.
A building of moderate size but of substantial construction
and architectural dignity and beauty has been erected and fully
equipped for use as a gymnasium. It is connected with the
main building by a closed corridor, and is supplied with all
needful appliances and apparatus of the best modern make.
The students are instructed and drilled by classes, as in any
other subject, under strict oversight, and with constant refer-
ence to the work of teaching.
GOVERNMENT.
The government of the school is not a government of rules,
nor even of laws. The school is not without law, but the
pupils are led by suggestion, encouragement and admonition
to become a law unto themselves. That this is a statement
not merely of what is thought desirable as a method of govern-
ment, but what is actually accomplished, is the testimony of
both official and casual visitors of the school. The pupils
hardly realize that they are governed ; they feel that they
govern themselves.
HEALTH.
Instruction in Hygiene. — A marked feature of the school is
the special attention directed not only to the physical well-
being of the pupils, but to such instruction as will enable them
to deal practically with living questions of hygiene as they
arise in every-day life. The pupils are taught to understand
the conditions of healthful life, and trained and assisted to
put into practice the instruction they receive in the care of
health. They have careful oversight, and are advised individ-
ually according to their needs. No pupil enters the school
without furnishing a physician's certificate of good health, and
no pupil is allowed to remain whose physical condition is not
thought equal to the demands of the school work. Special
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
69
efforts are made to counteract any tendency to overwork, over-
excitement or hurry. No recitations or study periods are
longer than forty minutes, and during the ample and frequent
intervals of relaxation school work is put completely aside.
PLATFORM EXERCISE.
This exercise has the somewhat comprehensive aim of help-
ing pupils to command their faculties and use their mother-wit
amid the interruptions and distractions of the school-room. It
consists of speaking, reading, drawing, etc., on the platform
in presence of the school. The widest range is given to choice
of subject and to manner of presenting it, with the single re-
striction of time. The prepared material must not occupy
more than four minutes, although the questions asked by
teachers and pupils may change the performance to extempo-
raneous speaking, and prolong it indefinitely. Forty minutes
are used in this manner each day. No time is assigned to in-
dividuals, but each takes part when he chooses or can find
opportunity, with the well-understood provision that not less
than ten persons must be prepared and on the platform every
day. Since the exercise is a trying one to pupils, there is little
direct criticism, and such as is made generally takes the form
of commendation of the excellences of the performance. In
reply to the question, " What school exercise was most profit-
able to you ?" graduates are almost certain to name this, or
" The study of children."
THE LIBRARY.
A library of more than five thousand volumes has been placed
in the main hall and the adjoining rooms, where it is at all
times easily accessible. While the books are selected for
their excellence, they are adapted to the class of readers for
whom they are designed, and the appearance of the collection
indicates that the use of it is in large measure general as well
as constant. Besides a liberal supply of the reference books
that all scholars need in the various departments of study,
together with English, German and French works on educa-
tion, the library is especially strong in the subjects of botany,
natural history, anthropology and folk-lore. Such authors as
70
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
Thoreau, Jefferies, Abbott, Burroughs, Torrey aud Bolles are
bought and replaced more frequently perhaps than any other
class. Many copies of the best collections of fables and fairy
tales are required, especially for the use of those taking the
apprenticeship in the lowest grades of schools. Volumes of
poetry, travel, biography, essays and novels are always in use,
the proportionate supply of each being roughly indicated by
the order in which they are named.
COURSES OF STUDY.
General Two- years Course.
The general course of study for two years comprises the fol-
lowing subjects : —
Psychology, history of education, principles of education,
methods of instruction and discipline, school organization,
school laws of Massachusetts, methods of teaching the follow-
ing subjects : —
1 . English, — reading, language, rhetoric, composition, litera-
ture, history.
2. Mathematics, — arithmetic, book-keeping, algebra, geom-
etry.
3. Science, — elementary physics and chemistry, geography,
physiology, study of minerals, plants and animals.
4. Drawing, vocal music, physical culture, manual training.
Observation and practice in the training school, and observa-
tion in other public schools.
Graduates of colleges and universities, and of high schools
of a high grade and standing, who give evidence of maturity,
good scholarship and aptness to teach, may, with the consent
of the principal of the school and the Board of Visitors, select
from the above curriculum of study a course which may be
completed in one year ; and when such course is successfully
completed they shall receive a certificate for the same.
The above is an enumeration of the studies ; their order in
the course and the relative emphasis placed upon each are
determined by the principal of each school, with the approval
of the visitors of that school.
It also needs to be stated that, while the foregoing list of
subjects marks out the field covered in the school curriculum,
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
71
it gives no adequate idea of the actual work done. It is made
a special aim to seize every opportunity to give the pupils the
benefit of whatever tends to fit them for the work of teaching.
The spirit of this endeavor pervades the whole school. It
influences the mode and character of most of the exercises, and
imparts to the whole work a tone and zest difficult to describe,
but which determine whatever of distinct character the normal
school possesses.
Special Course for College Graduates.
Students holding the degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor
of Science may enter at once upon a year's course in the prin-
ciples and methods of teaching, to be followed by a six months'
apprenticeship in the public schools of Worcester, under con-
ditions highly favorable to the acquisition of practical skill in
teaching, whether in grammar or high schools.
APPRENTICESHIP.
The students in this school have the opportunity, before their
graduation, of serving an apprenticeship at teaching in the
public schools of Worcester.
The * ' apprentice " acts as assistant to the teacher of the city
school ; takes part in the instruction, management and general
care of the pupils, under the direction of the teacher ; and is
sometimes intrusted with the sole charge of the school during
the teacher's absence for an hour, a half-day or a day. One
student only at a time is assigned to any teacher, but each
apprentice serves in at least three grades of schools.
The time taken for the apprenticeship comes just before the
final term in the normal school, and amounts to half a school
year. But the apprentices spend one day of each week (Satur-
day) at the normal school, where they are occupied in the fol-
lowing manner : —
They consult with the teachers and with one another, and
make use of books.
They make informal statements to the school of such facts of
their experience as it may profit the other pupils to know, con-
cerning ways of teaching, cases of discipline and the like, —
keeping in mind always the private character of the daily life
72
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
of the school-room, and under special warning against revela-
tions that might seem objectionable.
The additional six months of preparation required for the
experience secures increased maturity of body and mind : and
the students of this school, with very few exceptions, eagerly
avail themselves of their opportunity.
The main object of the apprenticeship is, however, to give
the student practical acquaintance with the teaching of children
through daily observation and practice under supervision, di-
rection and criticism.
Our graduates, after the lapse of a sufficient number of years
for them to estimate the effect of the apprenticeship upon them-
selves, testify almost unanimously to its great value. Some
regard it as 66 the most important term in the whole course of
the normal school."
As the student of the normal school who passes successfully
through the period of apprenticeship receives a certificate of the
fact in connection with his diploma at graduation, the extra
time required for the experience must in almost every case be
mtore than made good by the greater probability of securing a
position and the greater likelihood of success at the outset of
the teacher's career.
There are, however, individuals in the school for whom it is
impossible or impracticable to undertake this special prepara-
tion. The apprenticeship is not enforced upon any student, it
is simply recommended. Individuals who do not enter upon
it enjoy all the advantages of the school, with this single excep-
tion ; though it should be added that no person receives our
diploma without having given clear evidence of ability to teach
school.
ADVANCED APPRENTICESHIP.
The system of apprenticeship has been notably enlarged by
offering an optional half-year in addition to the regular six
months heretofore devoted to practice. This we regard as an
important step. It gives the opportunity to every student to
spend an entire year in practice teaching under competent and
careful supervision, in the excellent public schools of the city
of Worcester, thus lengthening the normal course, for those
who elect the senior term of apprenticeship, to three full years,
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
73
and affording thereby an amount and kind of practice unequalled,
so far as we know, in this country. Those who have already
availed themselves of this opportunity have shown marked
progress in directions that are important in the development of
a good teacher. In many instances it has appeared that the
border land separating the novice from the practised teacher
has been passed. The advanced apprentices have been teachers
in the public schools, under conditions as nearly as possible like
those of one with full responsibility and authority, and these
conditions have been such as tend toward the acquirement of
a finer art in school management and instruction. We believe
that the longer time of practice gives the young teacher greater
hope of success in the pursuit of a high standard in her calling ;
that she can better anticipate the demands that will be made on
her, be better equipped to meet them, and better protected from
the hard experiences that often come in the first years of teaching.
THE STUDY OF CHILDREN.
The school is much indebted to Dr. G. Stanley Hall for a
suggestion that the study of psychology might be pursued in
part by the original observation of children. From his idea as
a starting point, a scheme for this purpose has been worked out
and adopted as a permanent part of the school curriculum.
The principal requests the students to observe the conduct
of children in all circumstances, — at home, at school, in the
street, at work, at play, in conversation with one another and
with adults, — and record what they see and hear as soon as
circumstances will permit. When the nature of the work is
explained to the school, great emphasis is placed upon the
necessity of having the records genuine beyond all possibility
of question ; of having them consist of a simple, concise state-
ment of what the child does or says, without comment by the
writer ; of making botk the observation and the record without
the knowledge of the child ; and of noting the usual, rather
than the unusual, conduct of the individuals observed.
Many valuable records are reports of what is seen in the
street on the way to or from school, but perhaps the highest
value attaches to the reminiscences of the observer's own child-
hood. To recall one's own feelings, motives and conduct, in
74
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
circumstances that are repeated in the life of every child,
proves, as might be expected, in a high degree salutary, and
affects sensibly the manner of judging others. The frankness
and humor with which this kind of report is made are often
very interesting.
Systematic instruction in psychology is aided both in the
way of preparation and supplement by this additional study.
Pupils are thus furnished at the outset with facts of their own
observation, which serve as elementary materials for scientific
classification and study ; they have a habit of observing a cer-
tain class of phenomena, and have received suggestions and
cautions that are of service to them in other departments ; they
are able to pass more easily to mental science, because they
have learned that that, as well as natural science, can be pur-
sued by an objective method ; they have an already awakened
and active interest in the subject that gives them pleasure in
learning general principles, sometimes in part known by their
own observations ; and, moreover, they attach a different value
to a text-book which they see is a natural outgrowth of an
experience like their own.
PLANT STUDY.
Considerable emphasis is laid on the study of plants in this
school, as being perhaps the branch of natural science best
adapted to our public schools. This has come to mean with us
a great deal more than mere technical botany, of which, indeed,
we have comparatively little.
SEWING AND COOKING.
Owing to the fact that our students are mostly young women,
these household arts are the only forms of manual training
taught in this school. Although but one lesson a week is given
in each subject, the nature of the work is such as to admit of
much home practice, so that the results have been satisfactory.
The work is done in the senior year, and the maturity of the
pupils has something to do with their interest and progress.
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
75
KINDERGARTEN.
The kindergarten occupies a beautiful and sunny suite of
rooms in the south-west corner of the ground floor, and is an
object of great attraction and interest on the part of students
and teachers. It is made serviceable to our pupils for purposes
of daily observation and study, but not for practice. The class
affords excellent opportunities for certain lines of child study
and for experimentation in elementary teaching and the care
and management of young children ; and it exhibits to our
students the earliest forms and phases of the work which they
are to undertake in its next stage.
The sessions are held from 9 till 12 every week-day except
Monday, with holidays and vacations coinciding with those of
the normal school.
Only children who are in good health and who have been
vaccinated are received.
No charge is made for tuition, and no obligation to follow
anv regular course of instruction or training is assumed.
The presence of visitors (except the parents of the children )
was found to interfere seriously with the work of the class, and
we were therefore reluctantly compelled to except this class
from general visitation.
PRIMARY CLASS.
As following the kindergarten, there has been established
three years" instruction for older children.
The conditions of admission to this class are substantially the
same as those enumerated above for the kindergarten, except
that children must in all cases be past their fifth and not past
their seventh birthday when admitted.
GENERAL FACILITIES.
Incidental Advantages. — Important facilities for general im-
provement are offered to pupils in the libraries, institutions and
other means of culture, in which Worcester is rich.
The extensive and well-arranged museum of the Worcester
Natural History Society is open for inspection, and specimens
76
WORCESTER NORMAL SCHOOL.
in all departments can be borrowed by teachers and students,
and taken to the school for purposes of study and illustration.
The hall of the American Antiquarian Society contains a
notably rich store of interesting exhibits, and the library in-
cludes a rare treasury of books pertaining to American history.
The free public library stands almost unique among the insti-
tutions of the kind in this country for the effective relationship
existing between it and the schools. Its large and well-endowed
reference library, its well-filled circulating department, its read-
ing-rooms, supplied with the leading domestic and foreign papers
and periodicals, afford exceptional opportunities to the schools.
Special facilities are offered to teachers and pupils, and the
librarian is unsparing in his efforts to render every aid in the
choice and use of books or in any way in which he can assist
the reader.
GENERAL INFORMATION.
Board and Rooms. — Students are advised to board in the
city, if possible. Not much is saved pecuniarily by those who
go in and out every day by rail, and the loss of time and the
incidental exposure put them at a serious disadvantage.
Stoddard Terrace affords superior furnished rooms — it is not
a boar ding -house, but a dormitory — for about twenty students
and teachers. Those who lodge here find table board in families
near at hand. The terms are $38 for the school year, and no
deduction is made for temporary absence. No student is re-
ceived for less than a half term. Further particulars may be
obtained from the principal, to whom early application for rooms
should be made.
Other boarding-places in respectable private families in the
neighborhood, approved by the authorities of the institution,
are easily obtained. To such as seek information or advice in
this direction the principal is ready to give every assistance
in his power.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1895.
Instructors.
Edwin A. Kirkpatrick,
Preston Smith, .
Joseph T. Whitney,
Flora E. Kendall, .
Helen M. Humphrey,
Annette J. Warner,
Abby P. Churchill,
Elizabeth D. Perry,
Florence M. Miller,
NORMAL SCHOOL.
JOHN G. THOMPSON, Principal.
Pedagogy.
. Psychology and Child Study.
. Natural Science.
. Manual Training.
. English and Geography.
. History and Mathematics.
. Draicing.
. Nature Study.
. Music and Gymnastics.
. History.
PRACTICE SCHOOLS.
Charles S. Alexander (Principal),
Nellie B. Allen,
Mary I. Chapin,
Mattie E. Cole,
Annette J. Warner,
Abby P. Churchill,
Elizabeth D. Perry,
Joseph T. Whitney, .
Supervisor in Grammar Grades.
Supervisor in Grammar Grades.
Supervisor in Intermediate Grades.
Supervisor in Primary Grades.
Supervisor of Draicing.
Supervisor of Nature Study.
Supervisor of Music and Gymnastics.
Manual Training.
L. Frances Jones,
Ida M. Austin, .
Caroline Hagar,
Alice C. Ploier,
MODEL SCHOOLS.
Grade I. Mary McConnell, . . Grade V.
Grade II. Blanche L. Russell, . Grade VI.
Grade III. Rolina H. Lewis, . . Grade VIII.
Grade IV. Mary L. Merrill, . . Ungraded.
Emily M. Smith,
KINDERGARTEN.
Principal. Georgiana H. Jubb,
Assistant.
1
State Normal School, Fitchburg.
DESCRIPTIVE.
The Fitchburg Normal School was opened in July, 1895,
and admitted its first class in September of the same year.
It has admitted five classes, — 250 pupils, and graduated three
classes, — 98 pupils. For the year ending June, 1900, the
school has a membership of 110 and a faculty numbering 24.
In the model schools or schools of observation there are 264
pupils, in eight rooms ; in the practice schools there are 499
pupils, in seventeen rooms.
The main building is of brick and granite, erected and
equipped by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at a cost of
about $175,000. The model schools or schools of observation
are temporarily in this building. A twelve-room building, to
which they will be moved, is in course of erection. The prac-
tice schools are in two buildings furnished by the city of
Fitchburg. The normal school grounds, about five and one-
half acres in extent, afford ample opportunity for lawn tennis,
croquet and other out-door exercises.
AIMS.
The work of the Fitchburg Normal School is to fit graduates
from approved Massachusetts high schools, or those having an
equivalent education, to teach in the grades below the high
school. The time given to the regular course is two years.
METHODS.
The Fitchburg Normal School seeks to accomplish its de-
sired results : —
First. — By rejecting all who show, because of lack of per-
sonal force or scholarly attainments, that they cannot within a
reasonable time fit themselves for teaching.
82
FITCHBURG NORMAL SCHOOL.
Second. — By selecting as members of its faculty only grow-
ing enthusiastic leaders in their respective subjects, men and
women of such character and personality that all who come to
them as students must be made to see things in a broader way
and be inspired to nobler efforts ; and by supplementing the
work of these teachers by lectures from educational leaders
and thinkers. 4 4 Not so much what you study, as with whom
you study."
Third. — By bringing its students to the direct study of
things, taking them into the fields and woods to nature herself.
Such is the slavery to books that it seems necessary that those
who are preparing to teach should not be expected to get from
books what they can, without too great expense of time and
effort, get from nature herself.
Fourth. — In teaching students, in so far as they must use
books, to use them as tools rather than to be bound by them
as masters. The school has a large reference library, to which
all students have access, and each student is supplied with a
small working library of about thirty volumes. No text-books
are used as such. Subjects are studied, not books. "Books
well used are among the best of things ; abused, among the
worst."
Fifth. — By bringing those who are to teach children rather
than subjects into contact with children, both in the school-
room and upon the playground. From simply playing with a
group of children at recess upon the playground or in the
gymnasium, students by gradual steps are given more and
more responsibility, until they have charge of a school of
twenty or thirty pupils, under conditions similar to those
under which they would teach in any Massachusetts town or
city.
DETAILS.
In brief outline, but more in detail, the plan of the work at
the Fitchburg Normal School is as follows : —
The entering class is divided into groups of from twelve to
twenty.
The first four to six weeks after entrance are devoted to gen-
eral class-room work, following which a few weeks are spent in
the study of the kindergarten.
FITCHBURG NORMAL SCHOOL.
About half of the morning session of each day is spent in
observing the children and the teachers at work. In the after-
noon the principal of the kindergarten meets the class and
explains, as fully as possible in the short time assigned to this
work, the kindergarten principles. The students also meet
with the director of child study, who assists and guides them
in observing the children. This work in no way takes the
place of or interferes with the regular kindergarten course.
From the kindergarten the divisions proceed to the first
grade of the model schools and from thence on through the
grades.
The periods for observation are so arranged as to cover the
work of the children in all subjects, and also so as to come at
different hours on successive days.
This observation is directed by the heads of the various
departments, with whom the students meet regularly for dis-
cussion of the work observed and of courses of study and
methods of teaching.
Side by side with the observation of the teaching in the
various grades and the discussion and study of courses and
methods, the study of children is pursued under the guidance
of the director of child study, so that courses and methods may
be discussed and judged in terms of the child mind and its
growth. It is hoped by this work to build up in the mind of
the normal student ideas as clear and definite as may be, of the
kindergarten pupil, of the child of five, of six, of seven, of
eight years of age, and so on up to the high school age ; to
render students familiar, through observation and study, with
discovered laws of the physical and mental growth of children ;
to lead them to see and recognize different kinds and types of
children ; to helf> them notice and to teach them to interpret
defects, physical and mental, and to show them how such de-
fects may be remedied ; to awaken in them sympathy and love
for children, so that each student may, as far as possible for an
adult, be able to put herself in the child's place, and to look at
the teacher and the school from that point of view.
Following this work in observation is work in teaching in
the various grades. For example, the normal students, having
observed a lesson in number in the first grade, are required to
84
FITCHBURG NORMAL SCHOOL.
prepare the lesson which should follow ; and a student whose
plan has been accepted by the teacher in charge is asked to
teach the class the next day. Of course this work in teaching
does not come until the students are quite familiar with the
work of the grade. As the work of the class proceeds through
the grades, these exercises in preparation and in teaching are
continued.
In April following the admission of the student she is as-
signed the room in the practice school in which she is to teach
for fourteen weeks the following year. From April till the
close of her first year she spends one day each week at the
practice school, studying the children she is to teach, and pre-
paring, under the direction of the supervisors of practice, for
her special work.
While this work in observation and child study is progress-
ing, the students have regular work in psychology and general
pedagogy.
One-third of the second year is spent by the student in teach-
ing under expert supervision, but with as full a responsibility
for general management and discipline as though she were in
charge of a room in any town or city school. Each pupil,
before receiving a diploma, not only shall have faithfully and
honorably completed a full course of study in the normal school
proper, but also shall have demonstrated in the practice school
her ability to control and to teach.
The remaining two-thirds of the second year are spent in the
study of children, as a basis for a thesis to be prepared for
graduation, in the study of biology and genetic psychology,
history of education, physical culture, vocal culture, gymnastics
and manual training, in collecting material for and performing
simple graded experiments in physics and chemistry (such
experiments as may be used in grades below the high school),
in the study of English classics that may be read below the
high school, of algebra and geometry for grammar grades, and
in the study of nature. By nature study is meant not simply
or chiefly the scientific, technical study of animals, plants and
forces. While recognizing the necessity and importance of
this phase of nature study, the Fitchburg Normal School seeks
especially to develop a love of nature. It believes that this
FITCHBURG NORMAL SCHOOL.
85
can be brought about only through contact with nature ; that
those who develop and foster this love are they who are . as a
recent writer has put it, * ' very constantly in the presence and
company of nature. They not only seize, they make, oppor-
tunities for getting into the woods, for loitering in the fields, for
exploring the streams, for walking across the country. ..."
A large amount of field and experimental work is required,
especially in geography, geology and other natural sciences and
nature work.
Finally, in every exercise the necessity for broad, liberal
scholarship, as a part of the teacher's equipment, is empha-
sized. Every effort is put forth to cultivate in normal students
scholarly habits, to the end that all their years after graduation
may be years of study and growth. We instruct that we may
interest, rather than interest that we may instruct.
Advanced Course.
The advanced course, to which are admitted a limited number
of the most promising graduates from the general two-years
course, gives a half-year of additional study at the normal
school and a half-year of teaching under the supervision of the
normal school in the public schools of Fitchburg, Leominster
and Lunenburg. The raison d'etre and the method of this
course are well set forth by Hon. J. D. Miller, chairman of the
Board of Visitors for the Fitchburg Normal School, in his last
report. He writes as follows : —
Something may now be added to that which was said in the last
report of those who remain in the school for a third year of study and
practice. One end proposed in this extra year is a broader study of
those subjects in the regular course of two years, which, for lack of
time, must be passed with something of haste. But this is not all,
perhaps it may be said that it is not the main thing. It is true that
there is a great and growing need of this extra study, but there is
another need also, which must be emphasized. In speaking before
the Worcester County teachers of his twenty-five years' experience in
the normal school, Principal Russell said he had often been tempted
to ask for two additions to the normal faculty. One he would have
visit, during their preparatory course, those who were to enter the
normal school ; the time of the other should be used in helping
86
FITCHBURG NORMAL SCHOOL.
graduates in the early days of their teaching, giving them sympathy
and encouragement until such time as they were able to stand upon
their teaching feet.
To give, in connection with the study already mentioned, just that
help, encouragement, sympathy and inspiration which a beginner in
the work of teaching so much needs, is the full purpose of this
advanced course.
The financial condition of most of those who attend our normal
schools is not such that they can well give a third year of time and
expense to the work, even if facilities for training could be found.
Therefore, for that part of the time devoted to training, these pupils
should receive pay. There are other reasons for this, which need
not be urged here.
The expense to the State for this work should be as small as
possible, and still secure the best results. How to do this work
— in itself of the greatest importance — in the best way and at the
least expense was the problem. The first year the supervision was
entrusted wholly to one of the normal teachers; but, as this took
most of her time, it was thought that some of this expense might be
saved, and still good results secured. If this was possible, it was
certainly desirable. Having this in mind, an arrangement was made
with the school committees of Leominster and Lunenburg, whereby
certain of the graduates were to be elected as teachers, at a fair
salar}'. The schools so selected were near enough to the normal
school, so that, by a division of the work, the necessary supervision
could be given by the normal teachers themselves, in addition to their
regular teaching. In most of these cases the graduates have been
visited twice a week ; they have been given suggestion and encour-
agement, and such direct help as they seemed to need. The results
have been most satisfactory, and the work which these young teachers
are doing demonstrates the utility of this plan.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
North Adams, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1897.
Instructors.
Roland W. Guss, .
Charles H. Stearns,* .
Lyman R. Allen,*
Annette M. Bartlett,
Mary A. Pearson,*
Catherine W. Parker,
Annie C. Skeele,*
NORMAL SCHOOL.
FRANK FULLER MURDOCH., Principal.
Psychology, Geography.
. Natural Science.
. Manual Training.
History, Geography, Latin.
Mathematics, Music.
Drawing.
English, Reading.
Physiology, Physical Culture.
TRAINING SCHOOL.
Mrs. Donna D. Couch, Principal.
Rosa E. Searle, Fannie Foote,
Harriette P. Ryder, Susan G. Lombard,
Hannah E. Magenis, Sarah E. Bower,
Marion L. Webster, Emma H. Tingue,
Agnes E. Walker, Margaret F. Collins,
F. A. Clark, Susan A. Cleghorn,
Olie M. Hilliard.
KINDERGARTEN.
Eva L. McConkey, PHncipal.
Lilian S. Daniels, Assistant,
Annie Boyd Pianist.
* Instructors in the training school also.
State Normal School, North Adams.
HISTORICAL.
By an act of the Legislature approved June 6, 1894, four new
normal schools were established. Of these, the school at North
Adams was one. The first class was received Feb. 1, 1897.
LOCATION.
North Adams is distinctively picturesque. The elevations
that surround the city are among the most attractive of the
Berkshire hills. On the north side are rounded domes of the
Green Mountains, on the east the abrupt wall of Hoosac Moun-
tain overhangs the city, while on the south-west border rise the
outlines of massive Greylock, the- highest peak in Massachusetts.
On the westerly slope of an eminence rising several hundred
feet above the river are situated the school buildings. Of the
many beautiful locations in Berkshire County, the one chosen
is remarkably fine. The near rounded domes, the deep retreat-
ng valleys, the winding streams, with all their changing life
and aspects, always please and inspire. The noisy hum of the
city slightly removed, the beauties of nature close at hand, the
duties of student life are made easy and profitable to an unusual
degree. The city of North Adams was both wise and generous
in its gift of a location. Especially noteworthy are the facili-
ties for out-door study of nature and of industry.
The city is easily reached from the east and west by the
Fitchburg Railroad, and from the south by the Boston & Albany
road. Electric cars connect the city with Adams and Williams-
town.
BUILDINGS.
The buildings in exterior are of yellow brick and white
marble, with metal roofs. The school building, in Italian
style, is 152 feet long, 84 feet deep, and three stories and
92
NORTH ADAMS NORMAL SCHOOL.
basement in height. It is of slow-burning construction, the
floor timbering and roof being carried by steel beams and
trusses. The arrangement of stairways, which are iron, gives
easy and safe egress.
In the basement are the boiler, engine, fuel, heating and
janitor's rooms, a lunch room, gymnasium and bath rooms, a
room for manual training and a photographic dark room ; in
the first story, two reception rooms, cloak, coat and toilet
rooms, and four natural science laboratories ; in the second
story, the assembly hall, office, libraries and class rooms for
the languages and mathematics ; in the third story, the physical
and chemical laboratories, the art rooms and a general class
room ; and in the attic is ample space for storage.
The interior is finished in oak throughout and provided with
modern improvements and facilities. Cabinets, drawers and
closets, specially adapted to the needs of the school, are pro-
vided in all the rooms. In strength, simplicity, beauty and
adaptation to its use, the school building is not surpassed.
COURSES.
The Two- years Course.
This course is designed primarily for those who aim to teach
in public schools below the high school grade. It comprises
substantially the following subjects : —
1. Psychology, history of education, principles of educa-
tion, methods of instruction and discipline, school organization
and the school laws of Massachusetts.
2. Methods of teaching the following subjects : —
(a) English, — reading, language, rhetoric, composition,
literature and history.
(b) Mathematics, — arithmetic, book-keeping, elementary
algebra and geometry.
(c) Science, — elementary physics and chemistry, geography,
physiology and hygiene, and the study of minerals, plants and
animals.
(d) Drawing, vocal music, physical culture and manual
training.
3. Observation and practice in the training school and obser-
vation in other public schools.
NORTH ADAMS NORMAL SCHOOL.
93
The Three-years Course.
Some portion of a third year is necessary in order to afford
sufficient practice to those students who have not had experi-
ence in teaching, and who are planning to teach in grades not
requiring Latin. It is a necessity that all students spend a
third year in the study of elective subjects and in the practice of
teaching, in order to take the more prominent and responsible
positions in the elementary schools or to enter upon depart-
mental teaching.
For students signifying at their admission their intention of
pursuing a three-years course, it will be so arranged that elec-
tive subjects may be begun early in the course, instead of being
postponed to the third year.
The Kindergarten Course.
The kindergarten course requires one year of study and
training in the two-years course, including those studies which
are essential to kindergarten work, and one year of practical
work with the children and in the theory and history of the
kindergarten. Students well prepared to enter upon this
course may complete it in two years, but a longer time is
needed in most cases to make one competent to be principal of
a kindergarten. It is very desirable that the student should
have the full two-years course, and one year added for the
special kindergarten training. Students pay the cost of ma-
terial taken away for future use, but this expense does not
exceed ten dollars for the course.
Special Courses for Teachers.
Teachers of several years' successful experience in teaching,
who give evidence of maturity, good scholarship and aptness
to teach, may, with the consent of the principal and the Board
of Visitors, select a course (including the course in psychology
and pedagogy) , and when such course is successfully completed
they shall receive a certificate for the same. Candidates are
admitted to this course without written examination.
94
NORTH ADAMS NORMAL SCHOOL.
Special Course for College Graduates.
Graduates of colleges and universities, and of high schools
of a high grade and standing, who give evidence of maturity,
good scholarship and aptness to teach, may, with the consent
of the principal of the school and the Board of Visitors, select
from the above curriculum of study a course which may be
completed in one year, and when such course is successfully
completed they shall receive a certificate for the same. Candi-
dates are admitted to this course without written examination.
EQUIPMENT.
The four natural science laboratories are arranged in se-
quence, and by means of specimens and models in well-lighted
wall cases is displayed the progression of mineral, plant and
animal life to its final development in man. Banks of drawers
are provided in the laboratories for collections of the varieties
of each type displayed in the wall cases. At the tables are
drawers for the working collections and tools distributed to
students. In the instructors' laboratories are reserve speci-
mens, models, pictures, charts and diagrams.
Worthy of special mention are the following materials for
study : —
The synoptic and Howell's college collection of minerals and
rocks in the mineralogical and geological laboratory.
In the biological laboratories are the Deyrolle plant models,
illustrating twelve of the leading families ; the synoptical col-
lection of invertebrates and vertebrates; the preparations (wet
and dry) showing the habits, homes and metamorphoses of
many insects, the development of a snail, a leech, a crayfish, a
horse-shoe crab, a spider, a fish, a salamander, a frog, a toad,
a snake and a lizard, displaying all stages of growth, from the
egg to the adult form ; dissected specimens of a clam, a cray-
fish, a lobster, a fish, a frog, a lizard, a turtle, a dove and a
rat, displaying separately the digestive, circulatory and ner-
vous systems ; a series of skeletons, a human skeleton, a life-
size manikin and a set of Auzoux models of the eye, ear,
larynx, brain, pelvis.
In the geographical laboratories are several thousand care-
NORTH ADAMS NORMAL SCHOOL.
95
fully selected and classified pictures, including photographs,
engravings, half-tones, bromide enlargements, the Holzel series
of oleographs and several hundred lantern slides.
The mathematical department is supplied with collections of
models for individual use and class observation in the study of
geometry, arithmetic and algebra, in their appropriate develop-
ment through all grades, including those of the high school.
The historical and literary departments are supplied with
several hundred classified pictures and numerous charts.
The art departments are equipped with adjustable tables,
models, type and ornamental forms, pictures, drawings and
casts, illustrative of all the phases of modern art teaching.
The library has been selected with especial reference to the
needs of teachers. All departments are proportionately rep-
resented, and furnish excellent opportunities for general
reference work and special investigation. Magazines and
pamphlets for general culture and departmental study are
numerous, the pamphlet division already including several
thousand copies.
The three laboratories for physics and chemistry are equipped
with modern improvements and with apparatus for individual
experimentation in both qualitative and quantitative work.
The manual training room is furnished with twenty-five
sloyd benches and tools for wood working.
The gymnasium is equipped with apparatus for the practice
of Swedish gymnastics.
An electric projection lantern and numerous slides have
been provided. The lantern can be used in six different
rooms, and supplements the work in the various sciences, in
literature and in art.
TRAINING SCHOOL.
On an adjacent lot is a modern brick building containing
seventeen class rooms, an assembly hall, two large basements
and the motor and boiler rooms. In an annex is the gymna-
sium, 40 by 72 feet, supplied with Swedish apparatus sufficient
for the accommodation of classes of forty pupils each. All
grades are represented, beginning with the kindergarten and
extending through nine years of primary and grammar work
96
NORTH ADAMS NORMAL SCHOOL.
to the high school. In each room is a regular teacher in
charge of a class not exceeding forty pupils. The principal is
free for teaching in any grade and for the direct observation
and instruction of the normal students.
Unusual opportunities are afforded for the study of children
and the practice of teaching. Students begin their work in
this school immediately upon their entrance into the normal
school, and continue it regularly throughout the course. The
rapidity of progress through the various stages of the training
school work depends on the ability and previous experience
of the student. In general, the order of work is as follows : —
First Year. — First term : reading of individual children
begun. Second term : observation of teaching begun.
Second Year. — Third term : study of school organization
and management, and assisting in teaching and management.
Fourth term : practice in teaching, the amount of responsi-
bility conferred depending on the ability of the student.
Third Year. — Responsible charge of classes, elective work.
Students who have taught successfully before entering will be
given opportunities for practice in teaching and disciplining as
early in the course as their abilities warrant.
Close and appropriate supervision and instruction are given
students by the regular teachers of the several grades and
by the principals of the various departments, thus insuring
reasonable progress to students requiring extra opportunities
in the practice work of teaching.
In the kindergarten department, which occupies a suite of
three rooms, which can be opened into one, students not only
are trained to be kindergartners, but also are taught the im-
portance of and the ways of continuing the kindergarten spirit
into primary work. They observe and practise in the early
primary grades, and are thus fitted to become kindergarten or
primary teachers in the public schools as they may elect. The
demand for such teachers is very far beyond the supply.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1897.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
W. A. BALDWIN, B.S., Principal.
Psychology, Pedagogy, School Management, History of Education.
Bertha M. Brown, S.B., .... Biology, Mathematics.
Eva A. Hickox, Physical Training.
Frederic H. Holmes, Geography, Physics, Manual Training.
Minerva A. Laing, Chemistry, Minerals, Drawing.
Lina L. Loveridge, History, Literature.
Edmund F. Sawyer, Music.
TRAINING
Richard W. Marston, .
Nellie E. Wilbar,
Eva A. Hickox,
Isadore M. Jones,
Ida E. Finley,
Maria Fuller,
SCHOOL.
Principal, Grades Eighth and Ninth.
Grades Sixth and Seventh.
Grades Fifth and Sixth.
Grade Fourth.
Grade First.
Principal Primary Department, Grades
Second and Third.
State Normal School, Hyannis.
HISTORICAL.
In 1894 the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts authorized the establishment of four new State normal
schools, one of which should be in the county of Barnstable.
The State Board of Education selected Hyannis as the most
suitable location in the county of Barnstable. Two important
conditions had been imposed by the State on the place in which
the school should be located, namely, that it should pay into
the State treasury $25,000, or such a part of this sum as should
be necessary for the purchase of proper grounds for the school,
and that a suitable training school should be established for the
use of the normal school as a school of observation and practice.
In 1895 the Legislature authorized the construction of a
dormitory (Acts of 1895, chapter 345, section 1), and in 1897
a special act authorized the purchase of the residence connected
with the aforementioned estate, the same to be used as the
principal's residence.
The school building and dormitory were completed and ready
for occupancy when the school opened on Sept. 9, 1897. The
entering class consisted of thirty-one women and ten men.
LOCATION.
This school is located midway on Cape Cod, in the county
of Barnstable, town of Barnstable and the village of Hyannis.
It is only seventy-nine miles from Boston, with which it is
connected by the Cape Cod division of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford Railroad. The train service is excellent,
especially from June 1 to November 1, when thousands of
summer visitors sojourn for the whole or a part of the season
on the Cape.
102
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
The town of Barnstable has a valuation of $3,943,940 and
a population of 4,055. Hyannis is the largest and most thriv-
ing village in this town. It is a village of homes, where the
stranger is particularly struck with the trim, well-kept appear-
ance of each house. The streets and walks are kept in excellent
repair. The houses are built upon two or three parallel streets
and a few cross streets, so that the village is about one and one-
half miles long, with little width. It will be readily seen that
a walk of five minutes will take one out of the village into the
country or down by the water. All about are delightful drives
through forests of pine and oak. The sea views which may
be obtained from the school building are beyond description.
Few places along our whole Atlantic coast afford anything so
fine.
A strong lecture course is supported by the people of the
village, and arrangements have been perfected whereby the
students may have free access to the books of the Sturgis
Library, one of the best and most carefully selected libraries
in any of the villages of the State.
The school buildings are very easy of access, being only five
minutes' walk from the depot and the same distance from the
post-office. In fact, the grounds are in the very midst of the
village. It will be readily seen that the school has all the ad-
vantages of a quiet country location and at the same time is
within easy reach of the conveniences of modern civilization.
BUILDINGS.
The buildings which are connected with the school are four
in number, viz. : the State normal school, the dormitory, the
training school and the principal's residence.
The normal building is a substantial brick and stone structure,
arranged and constructed for modern school work. All of the
rooms are well lighted, the recitation rooms being on the east
and south sides, while the dressing rooms, store rooms, offices
and rooms for drawing take the light from the north. The
heating and ventilation are by the "fan system." The build-
ing has been furnished and equipped in a plain but substantial
manner. Everything is thoroughly modern and well adapted
to the use for which it was purchased.
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
103
On the first floor are the general and private offices, the
ladies' cloak-room and toilet, the laboratory for biology, a reci-
tation room for mathematics, one for psychology and pedagogy,
and a third which is not yet in use. On the second floor are
the main hall, the library, the reading room, the laboratory and
a store room for mineralogy and geology, a recitation room for
history and literature and a teachers' rest room. On the third
floor are the laboratories and store rooms for physics and chem-
istry, a large room for drawing and a large lecture room for
physics, chemistry, geography and kindred subjects. In the
basement is a large gymnasium. Here are also two large, well-
lighted rooms, one of which is now used as a coat room and
lunch room for gentlemen and the other as a work-shop. Both
are well adapted to use for manual training laboratories. Next
to the gymnasium is a room fitted with shower baths, wash
basins and toilets. In the basement may also be found the
engine room, with two mammoth boilers which supply steam
for heating both the school building and the dormitory ; the
hot-air pump, which pumps water to a reservoir in the top of
the building, from which it is distributed to the school building,
the dormitory and the premises ; the air pump and tank, which
supplies air for the Johnson automatic system which keeps the
temperature in each room at 70° ; the air pump and mixer,
which connects with the gasoline tank situated outside in the
grounds and forces the gas to all parts of both buildings.
The dormitory is built of brick, with brown-stone trimmings.
As already stated, it is heated and lighted from the plant located
in the basement of the school building. This is the temporary
home for the majority of our students, and great care has been
taken to make it a comfortable, cheery, home-like place. On
the basement floor are the dining room, kitchen, hall, pantry,
baths, laundry, drying room, servants' sitting room and the
store room. On the first floor are the parlor, alcoves, hall,
guest room, matron's room, students' rooms and bath rooms.
On the second floor are two teachers' rooms, pupils' rooms, a
linen closet and bath rooms. The third floor is like the second.
On the fourth floor are the servants' rooms.
The dining room is well lighted, and furnished with cosy
tables which will seat four or six persons each.
104
HYANNIS NOEMAL SCHOOL.
The parlor is furnished in mahogany, with rugs, draperies
and curtains to correspond. A new piano and a well-selected
library have been provided for the use of all.
Each student's room has two windows, two large closets, a
fixture for gas with Welsbach burner and one for electricity,
a steam radiator and a ventilating flue. Each is furnished
with a quartered oak bureau, commode, table, two rockers, two
straight-backed chairs, toilet set, screen, one large and two
small rugs, and two single iron beds, each bed being provided
with a national spring, a first-class hair mattress, one live-geese
feather pillow and one hair pillow. Few dormitories are so
comfortably equipped.
CLIMATE.
The climate is the mildest in the State. Zero weather is con-
sidered extremely cold. There is little snow, and cold spells
are of short duration. The nearness of the gulf stream helps
to make the winter climate here resemble that of the New
Jersey coast much more than it does that of New England. In
the summer the prevailing wind is from the south-west ; and,
sweeping up over the whole length of Long Island Sound, this
is always cool, but with a certain balmy softness known so well
to the inhabitants of Newport and Block Island.
BOARDING HALL.
Non-resident students are expected to board in the dormi-
tory or in private families approved by the principal.
The State has erected and furnished and keeps in repair this
fine building without expense to the students. All money
paid for board is therefore expended for provisions, fuel, lights
and service. Thus first-class accommodations and excellent
board are furnished at a very low rate. The cost to students
is $160 for the school year of forty weeks. Board is payable
quarterly, in advance, i.e., $40 at the beginning of each ten
weeks of the school year.
Students who go home regularly on Friday nights will be
allowed a suitable reduction from the above-named prices.
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
105
MISCELLANEOUS.
Each boarder is expected to furnish bedding, towels, nap-
kins and napkin ring, and clothes-bags. It will be well for
each to bring four pillow cases, three sheets, two blankets and
one coverlet. Every article of clothing must be distinctly and
indelibly marked with the owner's name.
Text-books and reference books are loaned to the students
free of charge ; but they are expected to pay for any damage to
books or furniture which they may be using, to buy their own
paper and note-books and to pay for breakage in the laboratory
work. The total of such expenses for a year is only a few
dollars.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
Students and candidates for admission who have done ex-
cellent work in the high school and are strong physically, but
who cannot obtain sufficient money at home for their support
through school, may apply for assistance. It will be under-
stood that only a small number can be assisted each year, and
great care will be exercised in selecting such applicants as are
particularly promising and most in need of such assistance.
During the present school year eleven applicants have re-
ceived loans of one hundred dollars or less each. The trustees
are not authorized to loan more than one hundred dollars per
year to any one student without a vote of the contributors.
SCHOOL REGULATIONS.
The government of the school is placed, as far as possible,
on the shoulders of the governed. Students are expected to
do their part toward their own best development. The theory
is that self-government develops character. These students
will soon be teachers, and so engaged in governing others ;
before they can control others, they must be able to control
themselves. If this power is not already theirs, it should be
developed. The best way to grow in this direction is to prac-
tise self-control. Each student is expected to feel responsible
not only for his own conduct but for the welfare of the school.
A committee is elected by the students from among their own
number to hear complaints and to confer with the principal
106
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
regarding any which have to do with the comfort and well-
being of the student body.
Habits of regularity, particularly in eating, sleeping, study
and recreation, are considered of prime importance, and regu-
lations covering these points have been adopted by the students
who board at the dormitory.
THE SCHOOL AND THE PUBLIC.
The school holds itself in readiness to respond to calls from
the superintendents and teachers of the vicinity for any assist-
ance which it can render. It welcomes all interested visitors
to its sessions or to inspect its equipment. Kooms are gladly
provided for teachers' meetings and for lectures which are of
a distinctly educational value.
SUMMER SESSION.
It seems to be the policy of the State Board of Education to
allow each school to develop an individuality of its own, — an
individuality which shall, in a measure, grow out of its en-
vironments.
The Hyannis Normal School is attempting to work out some
of the normal school problems in its own way, and it may not
be amiss to state here a few of these problems, and some of
the advantages which are offered at this school for working
them out.
It is believed that many teachers now in service in Massa-
chusetts realize their need of professional training. Every
teacher worthy of the name feels the need of such inspiration as
comes from regular intensive study during some part of each
year. To meet this need, the State has appropriated money
for the support of this summer session. Thus is inaugurated
a movement for the improvement of teachers now at work in
our schools. Here those who feel obliged to teach during the
regular school year will have an opportunity to take work equal
in value to that which is usually offered in normal schools.
The purpose of the instructors of this school is to give regu-
lar, systematic courses in such subjects and of such character
as will meet the needs of teachers now in service.
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
107
Character of the Work.
The work is like the regular work of the school year. The
same amount of study, of lecture room and of laboratory time
are required in each subject.
Electives may be taken if approved by the principal, but
the course must be balanced (contain a due proportion of sub-
jects in science, mathematics, language, history and profes-
sional work).
All students must take, during their course, reading, geog-
raphy, grammar, arithmetic, drawing and music.
Students may take one or more subjects, but the work must
be intensive in each.
Credits Alloaved.
Due credits will be allowed for work which has been done in
other normal schools or in colleges.
Teachers in service may be allowed to offer their experience
between the successive summer sessions in lieu of practice in
the training school.
Diplomas Granted.
Credit is given for each subject that is satisfactorily completed.
A diploma will be awarded when the amount of work done by
the student is equal to that required in the regular course.
Admission.
Teachers of maturity, who have been in service for two or
more years, and graduates of four-years courses in high schools,
who have taught one year, are admitted without examination.
Graduates of high schools and teachers of less than the above
required experience who desire to teach in the State may be
admitted without examination, but without entrance examina-
tions cannot receive credit to count toward a diploma.
During the past summer one hundred and thirty teachers and
superintendents were in attendance from different parts of New
England.
The faculty consisted of thirteen teachers, — four from the
Hyannis Normal School, tw r o from Bridgewater Normal School,
two from Oswego Normal School, one from the Boston Normal
108
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
School of Gymnastics, one from Kansas State College, one from
Newton High School, one supervisor of nature work in Quincy
and one supervisor of drawing in North Adams. The teachers
were very enthusiastic, and testified that they were receiving
substantial benefit from these courses. The majority of them
have registered for another year.
ADVANCED COURSE.
Like several of the other State normal schools, this school
is offering an advanced course. But, though the same subjects
are offered, our plan of arrangement is somewhat different.
Instead of attempting to prepare students to teach in high
schools, we are attempting to make very strong teachers for the
lower grades, — principals of grammar schools and superintend-
ents of schools. With this idea in mind, we are offering only
so much foreign language work as will enable the instructor to
give a right method (after the years of work done in high
school on foreign languages, a very little time suffices for
teaching the right method), and the time thus saved is put
upon ancient and modern history and English literature. The
teachers in our lower grades need the broader outlook which
comes from study along these lines. In the third and fourth
years students are allowed to specialize to some extent along
lines which they think they would prefer to teach in depart-
mental work.
Much more teaching is provided than is usual in this course.
Each student in the two-years course does about fifteen weeks
of actual teaching in the practice school. The students of the
advanced course do the same amount, and then, as special
subjects are studied, the student is assigned some teaching to
correspond with a special subject. In this way we are prepar-
ing teachers who will be able to take departmental work in the
public schools.
CONNECTION BETWEEN NORMAL AND TRAINING SCHOOLS.
A special point is made in this school of connecting the work
done in the training school with that done in the normal school.
We attempt to make the training school the centre, and focus
all efforts in that direction. Every teacher in the normal
HYANNIS NORMAL SCHOOL.
109
school is expected to do some teaching in the training school,
thus keeping in close touch with.the children and their needs.
Nearly every teacher of the training school does some teaching
with the normal students, the principal taking methods in
arithmetic, the principal of the primary department methods
in primary reading, another teacher penmanship, etc. All
teachers of the normal school are expected to act as super-
visors of their particular subject in the training school.
When students are practising, they prepare their lessons
under the supervision of the teacher of that subject, who
observes and criticises their work. It is perhaps too early to
speak of definite results, but this arrangement seems to be
working well in this school, and certainly does keep the
academic and practice departments of the school in very close
touch with each other.
Weekly teachers' meetings are held, which are attended by
all of the teachers of both departments, and all enter into the
discussions of such educational questions as are of practical
interest to a new school trying to feel its way along into best
ways of teaching young children.
SPECIAL ADVANTAGES.
Some of the special advantages which this school has to offer,
are as follows : —
Location. — Retired, but in the midst of a pleasant country
village, and within easy reach of Boston.
Climate. — Mild, healthful, with tonic sea breezes.
Size of School. — Smallest State normal school in New Eng-
land, but gives best opportunity for individual attention and
assistance.
Training School. — Opportunities for training under skilled
supervision unexcelled.
Equipment. — Buildings, laboratories and equipment all
modern and complete.
Dormitory . — Great pains taken regarding diet, rest and
recreation of students, both the physical and social develop-
ment being carefully encouraged.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1897.
Instructors.
NORMAL SCHOOL.
FRANK F. COBURN, Principal.
Psychology.
Hugh J. Molloy, Mathematics.
Lyman C. Newell, Chemistry, Physics.
Walter J. Kenyon, Drawing.
Mabel Hill, History.
Laura A. Knott, . English
Anna W. Devereaux, Kindergarten.
Adelia M. Parker, Critic Teacher.
Grace D. Chester Biology.
Alma E. Hurd, Physical Culture.
Vesta H. Sawtelle, Music.
Mary Hussey, Elocution.
MODEL SCHOOL.
Cyrus A. Durgin, Principal.
Belle A. Prescott, Grace B. Alvord,
Charlotte E. Murkland, Maria W. Roberts,
Blanche A. Cheney, Mary E. Walsh,
Belle F. Batchelder, Carrie E. Erskine,
Mary I. Howe, Fanny M. Spooner,
Amy S. Tucke, Viola G. Burr,
Bertha "J. Curtis, Frances Clark,
Alice D. Sunbury, E. Belle Perham,
Clare S. Reed.
State Normal School, Lowell.
The city of Lowell has ever been representative in its edu-
cational development. Indeed, in its earliest history the
question of a system of public instruction was one which went
hand in hand with the problems of manufacturing interests and
factory life ; and throughout the years of progress and increase
the busy city of looms and spindles has always been quick to
grasp the wants and needs of her people in the matter of school
management and intellectual stimulus. From the first estab-
lishment of a public school, in 1822, until the present regime
of instruction, a peculiarly able set of educators have worked
for the city, winning from their work practical results in good
citizenship, and giving Lowell its place among towns foremost
in educational advancement.
With such a stable foundation of reputation, it is not strange
that the Legislature, in 1894, gave to Lowell the honor of
holding a State normal school. Such an honor ought to be
counted not only a charge for the future, but a mark of respect
for the past ; at least, unless party politics represents the
highest motives and greatest influence in these days, the citi-
zens of Lowell have reason to consider a State institution a
matter of personal regard from the Commonwealth to its
daughter city. And to prove the enthusiasm of those persons
who were to be held responsible for this undertaking, a tract
of land about three acres in extent was selected at the corner
of Broadway and Wilder streets by the State Board of Educa-
tion and purchased by the city of Lowell.
The school was opened to pupils Oct. 4, 1897, and the exer-
cises of dedication took place June 15, 1898.
The building itself has been planned with special thought
of convenience, and attracts attention as a model structure of
116
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
its kind. The building is constructed of buff mottled brick,
with trimmings of Indiana limestone ; it has three stories and
a basement above grade, facing northward. It is 178 feet in
length from west to east, and the depth of the building is 74
feet. The entrance consists of a portico, which is faced with
marble, with vaulted ceiling. The front and rear steps, but-
tresses and base course are of Conway granite, and moulded
brick is used over the windows.
The basement contains the two manual training workshops,
the lunch room, the sanitaries, boiler room, coal room, engine
room, storage, electrical shop and janitor's room. The first
floor contains a corridor 12 feet wide, extending from stairway
to stairway. The staircases at the ends are constructed of
iron. On this story are the principal's rooms, teachers'
assembling room, cloak rooms, four recitation rooms, with
adjoining private rooms for the teachers.
The second floor contains the main hall, 60 by 65 feet, with
four large recitation rooms similarly arranged, with private
rooms between them. The library is also on this story.
On the third floor the laboratories, both physical and chemi-
cal, are arranged with a lecture room, the large gymnasium 33
by 65 feet, and art room equally as large, with northern light.
All rooms and corridors are finished in quartered oak.
Heating and ventilation are accomplished by a combi nation
known as the fan and gravity system. Each recitation room
is supplied with not less than thirty-five cubic feet of fresh air
per minute for each pupil, and an equal amount of foul air is
withdrawn at the same rate.
In connection with the course of studies pursued at the
normal school, full scope is given to the science departments.
Laboratory and workshop are equipped with the best appliances
that can be procured. The spirit of advanced industrial art,
which is the natural development of a mill city, demands the
latest improvements in manual training ; and as fast as the
interest is produced, such courses are being introduced for
the students, as well as sewing and cooking lessons for the
women pupils.
Although the school is but three years old, the influence of
the institution is already being felt. Not alone is its influence
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
117
recognized in the city of Lowell ; the whole eastern portion
of Massachusetts has proved itself a fallow field for the intel-
lectual seeds of such progressive education.
The suburban towns, the villages still farther away from reach
of the large centres, are already in touch with the active power
and work of the Lowell Normal School. The opportunity has
been given to the youth of Middlesex County, and changes for
the better in the system of education in the adjoining towns is
already noticeable, because of the more rigorous demand in the
courses necessary to fit the pupils for the normal school.
The work of the Lowell State Normal School not only con-
sists of the general two-years course and three-years course,
with special course for teachers and college graduates, but the
kindergarten department is of so broad a scope that the first
year's work gives each pupil of the school a definite amount
of instruction in kindergarten principles, a general knowledge
of the gifts and occupations, with large opportunities for ob-
serving the city kindergartens themselves. The kindergarten
method governs the spirit of all the work in the normal school
from beginning to end, giving both thoroughness and enthusiasm
in the mental training. The existing relations between the
city kindergartens and the department of the normal school
make it possible to offer unusual advantages for observation
and practice. The twelve schools furnished for observation
and practice are situated in different sections of the city, and
include in their enrolment nearly 1,100 children, from families
of varied circumstances. It too frequently happens that kin-
dergarten schools include only children from the more fortunate
classes.
The following is a brief statement of the work of this course.
In the first year the kindergarten class takes a regular normal
school course. They meet the supervisor of the department once
a week, to receive instruction in principles and methods and in
the use of gifts and occupations. A week is spent early in the
year in visiting the different kindergartens, observing the work
done, throughout the forenoon. In the afternoons reports are
presented to the supervisor, and an opportunity is given for
discussion. The primary and lower grammar grades are then
visited, so that some knowledge may be obtained of the work
118
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
in the higher grades and their relation to the kindergarten.
Each pupil is requested to make a study of one or more of the
children, submitting a full report of the same to the supervisor.
In the second year all the forenoons are spent in the schools, a
part of the time in observation and a part in practice. A pupil
spends ten consecutive weeks in one school, and is given an
opportunity to take entire charge of a room under supervision.
Afternoons are spent at the normal school in the study of
theory, including mother-play and symbolic education, psychol-
ogy, games, gifts and occupations, drawing, nature work,
gymnastics, voice training and music.
In the post-graduate year further opportunity is given for
observation and practice. Instruction is given in advanced
kindergarten theory, including pedagogy and the education of
man, crystallography, laboratory work in zoology and botany,
with special reference to their application in the kindergarten ;
weekly discussions on the making of programs. The post-
graduate course was formed in the autumn of 1899, and has a
membership of 15.
In the regular training department for the primary and
grammar work the State Board and the city of Lowell agreed
that the Bartlett school should be used as -a school for observa-
tion and practice for the State normal school. The plan has
special advantages, since the Bartlett is one of the city's largest
schools, with 800 pupils, and a staff of teachers numbering
18. The building is not only one of the largest but one of
the newest grammar school buildings of the city. It is quite
plain architecturally, nothing whatever having been wasted for
show, but within it is a model of convenient arrangement. The
side hill upon which it is built made it easy to have the base-
ments exceptionally high and well ventilated. On the two
floors above, wide corridors run the whole length of the build-
ing, with two wide entrances from the street for the first, and
two spacious stairways for the second. The upper floor is
occupied by a handsome and well-lighted hall, capable of seat-
ing 1,200 persons. Small rooms are at each end which might
well be fitted up for museums or for similar uses. The building
is of course supplied with all the usual modern appliances in
the way of ventilation, adjustable seats for pupils, store rooms
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
119
for books, office for the principal with telephonic connections
with all the rest of the building, parlor for the teachers, etc
The training department, known as the observation and prac-
tice school, provides generously in its scope and equipment.
This well-organized city school consists of six grammar grades,
two rooms in each, a primary school of three grades and a
kindergarten. During the spring term each member of the
junior class spends one week in these grades, and every after-
noon she not only brings to the State school a written report
of the morning's observation, but she also has the advantage
of a personal discussion with the supervisor upon the work re-
ported.
With the fall term of the senior year training work in the
observation and practice school is continued. Each student
has the same proportion of time and work allotted to her, cov-
ering an average term's length. This work is divided into
three periods, therein giving the student the advantage of work
in at least three grades, thus breaking the length of practice,
so that it shall not be a too severe test of strength. The work
itself is under the direct observation of the principal, the reg-
ular teacher in each room, and the critic teacher or supervisor,
whose work is so arranged that she is in touch with both
academic and training departments. Each day the latter in-
structor meets the practising students individually as well as
in class, for criticism, to further the development of the cor-
relation of theory and practice.
At the outset the pupil teacher observes the work of the
model teacher. After a short period of observation one class
is assigned to her care, and in a day or two a second branch is
added to the first. By the end of the first week, if the prac-
tice teacher prove herself strong, she carries three or perhaps
all the morning's classes, with full control of the room. Thus
beginning as an apprentice under the supervision of a model
teacher, she finally takes the sole charge of a typical public
school room ; and the fact that the school contains over 800
pupils offers in itself an opportunity to watch the discipline
and management of a great educational organization such as a
city public school in Lowell can offer. During this period of
practice the pupil teacher submits each day her plans of work
120
LOWELL NORMAL SCHOOL.
to the model teacher, whose special office in this relation is to
give encouraging suggestions and advice concerning these
same plans and their adaptability to the grade which she is
teaching.
The teachers from the faculty of the State normal school,
whose plans of study are cordially accepted by the training
department, are expected to visit the practice work at least
once a week, that a close relationship and clear understanding
may exist between the academic work, theory and practice
work.
The design of the normal school is strictly professional, —
that is, to prepare in the best possible manner a student for
the work of organizing, governing and teaching the public
schools of the Commonwealth. The Board of Visitors, with
the principal of the school, have the management of the in-
stitution and its curriculum. It is their desire and aim that
the course shall give, first, a thorough knowledge of subjects
taught ; secondly, a wise pedagogical point of view ; thirdly,
a clear mental training.
STATE NORMAL ART SCHOOL.
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Established in 1873.
Instructors,
GEORGE H. BARTLETT, Principal.
George H. Bartlett,
Albert H. Munsell,
Edward W. D Hamilton
Ernest L. Major, .
Anson K. Cross,
Richard Andrew, .
Mercy A. Bailey, .
Vesper L. George, .
George Jepson,
Cyrcs E. Dallin,
Annie E. Blake,
Harry J. Carlson, .
M. Louise Field,
"WlLHELMINA N. DRANGA,
John L. Frisbie,
Elizabeth J. Hinckley,
. Historic Ornament; Principles of Design; Black-
board Illustration.
\ Drawing and Painting from the Antique Figure
\ and Life Model ; Composition ; Artistic Anat-
J omy.
1 Free-hand Drawing ; Light and Shade; Per-
S spective ; Model Draxcing Theory.
. Light and Shade Draxcing from Animal Form ;
Water-color Painting from Still-life.
. Design; Free-hand Drawing ; Light and Shade.
. Descriptive Geometry ; Mechanical Drawing and
Shop Work.
. Modelling from Antique and Life ; Composition.
. Modelling and Casting ; Design in the Round.
. Building Construction; Architectural Draxcing
and Design.
^ Drawing in the Public Schools.
. Ship Draughting.
. Curator.
State Normal Art School, Boston.
DESIGN AND HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL.
In view of the importance of drawiAg as a brunch of educa-
tion, the Legislature, by an act passed May 16, 1870, made
instruction in this branch obligatory in the public schools.
This act met with public favor ; but it was soon found by ex-
perience that it was impossible to realize satisfactorily the
benefits intended by the act, for want of competent teachers.
In 1871 the Board employed Mr. Walter Smith, recently
from the Art School, Leeds, England, to be State director of art
education. He inspected the schools, and advised the estab-
lishment of a school for the training of teachers in drawing.
The first appeal of the Board to the Legislature was not
successful. The means were finally provided, and the school
was opened Nov. 11, 1873, at Boston, Mass. It removed, in
1878, to a building constructed for its special use on the corner
of Newbury and Exeter streets, at an expense of $85,000. It
is in every respect a model of convenience for the purpose
which it was built to serve.
This school, during the twenty-seven years of its existence,
has prepared teachers of practical skill in the art of drawing for
the evening schools, now kept in all the cities and large towns
of the State ; has provided a large number of art directors and
teachers of drawing for public and private schools, for normal
and technical schools and collegiate institutions in all parts of
the country. Mr. George H. Bartlett is the present principal
of the school, and is aided by an able corps of assistants.
COURSES OF INSTRUCTION.
Class A embraces elementary drawing ; Class B, drawing,
painting and design ; Class C, the constructive arts, design
and shop work ; and Class D. modelling and design. There is
126
BOSTON NORMAL ART SCHOOL.
also a special class in applied design. The Public School Class
is devoted to methods of teaching and supervising drawing,
with special reference to the public schools.
TIME ALLOTTED TO THE COURSES.
The first course requires four years. It embraces the work
of classes A and B and the elementary course of C and D, fol-
lowed by a year in the Public School Class.
The second course requires four years. It embraces the
work of classes A, B and D, with normal instruction from the
teachers of those classes.
The third course requires three years. It embraces the work
of Class A and the elementary and advanced work of Class C,
with normal instruction from the teachers of those classes.
Students completing the work of Class A may choose one or
more of the courses offered by the school.
Special Class in Applied Design.
Only students who have performed the work required in
classes A, B and D, or A and C, will be eligible to enter this
class.
LECTURES.
Class lectures are given each year on the history of art, on
design, anatomy and perspective. Special lectures will be
given during the school year, between the hours of 2 and 3 p.m.
All students are required to attend them.
NORMAL ART SCHOOL COURSES AND DIPLOMAS.
Elementary Drawing and Design. (Class A.)
Geometry and Perspective. Free-hand drawing. Light
and shade. Historic ornament. Botanical analysis in color.
Elementary design.
Painting and Decoration. (Class B.)
1. Drawing from antique. Drawing from life. Painting.
Composition. Anatomy. Advanced perspective. Design in
color.
History of Painting.
2. Painting from life. Costume. Mural decoration.
BOSTON NORMAL ART SCHOOL. 127
Construction and Design. (Class C.)
1. Descriptive geometry. Building construction. Machine
drawing. Ship draughting.
History of Architecture.
2. Architectural design. Interiors and furniture. Shop
work, wood and metal.
Sculpture and Design. (Class D.)
1. Modelling from ornament. Modelling from antique.
Relieved decoration. Casting.
History of Sculpture.
2. Modelling from life. Figure reliefs.
Pedagogy and Supervision. (Teachers' Class.)
Teaching exercises. Courses of study. Graded illustrative
work. Supervision.
CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION.
Candidates must be over sixteen years of age ; must bring a
certificate of moral character from some well-known person in
the town w T here they reside ; and must present a high-school
diploma or its equivalent.
Entrance examinations will be held on Monday and Tuesday,
Oct. 1 and 2, 1900, in the following subjects : outline from group
of models, outline ornaments from cast, light and shade from
objects.
Tuition is free to students residing within the State and in-
tending to teach drawing in the public schools. Students
from other States, who declare their intention to remain in the
school until they graduate and after graduation to teach in the
public schools of Massachusetts, will be admitted free ; other-
wise they must pay the fee of fifty dollars per term for such
time as they may have been in the school.
Special students must pay fifty dollars per term, and will be
admitted under such regulations as the Board of Visitors pre-
scribe.
128
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BOSTON NORMAL ART SCHOOL.
Regular students cannot remain in any one class more than
two years.
Graduates may continue their studies for one year, upon
invitation of the principal.
Five dollars per term is charged for incidentals.
All fees are payable in advance to the curator.
SCHOOL YEAR.
The year is divided into two terms : the first term begins
Oct. 1, 1900, and ends Feb. 15, 1901 ; the second term begins
Feb. 18 and ends June 27, 1^01. The sessions are from 9 a.m.
to 2 p.m., except Saturdays, with a recess of half an hour at noon.
Vacations and holidays are as follows : Thanksgiving Day
and the remainder of the week, Christmas Day to New Year's
Day inclusive, Washington's Birthday, Patriots' Day, one week
beginning the first Monday in April, and Memorial Day.
LUNCHEON.
A hot lunch is provided every day for the students of the
school, at very low rates, from 12 to 12.30.
EXAMINATIONS AND DIPLOMAS.
Students failing to pass any examination may apply the fol-
lowing year, on condition that they again perform all class
work required in that subject.
Diplomas are awarded to graduates of the several courses.
Recognition will be given to special students for work done.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR APPOINTMENT.
Applications for teachers should be made directly to the
principal. Such applications will be brought to the attention
of students best prepared to do the required work.
CLASS A. — ELEMENTARY DRAWING.
Work Required.
Geometric problems and perspective problems (instrumental) .
Model drawing in outline. Outline of group of common ob-
jects. Light and shade drawing from a group of colored
objects. Details of human figure from cast. Details of animal
form from cast. Details from the historic schools of ornament.
BOSTON NORMAL ART SCHOOL.
129
Botanical drawing in pencil, pen and ink, and with brush.
Water-color studies from the living plant and flowers. Deco-
rative rendering of the same. Exercises in design.
Examinations for Advancement.
Plane geometrical problems. Perspective problems. Draw-
ing from objects (time sketch) . Historic ornament and design.
Theory of model drawing.
CLASS B.- DRAWING, PAINTING, COMPOSITION, ARTISTIC
ANATOMY AND ADVANCED PERSPECTIVE.
Work Required.
Drawing from the antique figure and living model. Anatom-
ical details. Perspective of shadows, reflections and aerial
effects. Study from still-life in oil or water color. Composi-
tion. Decorative design.
Examinations for Advancement.
Time sketch from the antique. Time sketch in color from
still-life. Original decorative composition. Paper on the his-
toric schools of painting. Paper on advanced perspective.
CLASS C — CONSTRUCTIVE ARTS AND DESIGN.
Elementary Course. First Term.
Orthographic projection. Projection of shadows. Elements
of machine drawing. Elements of building construction. Ex-
amination in each subject.
Advanced Course. Second Term.
Work Required.
Descriptive Geometry. — Illustrations from lectures. Inter-
sections of solids. Projection of shadows.
Ship draughting and modelling.
Architecture. — Design for dwelling or public building.
Structural details of same. Monog^ph of architecture and
ornament. Drawing of buildings from measurements. Two
designs in accordance with a proposition.
Machine Drawing. — Screws and their applications. Wheels,
spur and bevel gears, cams, etc. Machine drawn from copy.
130 BOSTON NORMAL ART SCHOOL.
Machine drawn from measurements. Details of same prepared
for shop. Shop work, in wood and iron. Forging, making
and tempering tools, etc.
Examinations for Advancement.
Papers on solid geometry and shadows. Examination of
shop work. Examination on lecture notes and problems.
Examinations in architecture. Examinations in building con-
struction. Design sketches based upon a proposition. Paper
on subject selected for monograph.
CLASS D. — MODELLING, CASTING AND DESIGN IN THE ROUND.
Work Required.
Elementary Course.
Ornament from the cast. Study from drawing or photo-
graph. Study from the living plant (with decorative treat-
ment). Details from the antique figure. Details from animal
form.
Advanced Course.
Head from life. Original design. Study from the living
model. Figure composition.
Casting.
Cast from nature of fruit or foliage. Cast from a piece
mould, sulphur mould and gelatine mould.
Examinations for Graduation.
Time sketch in clay from ornament. Time sketch in clay
from the antique. Time sketch in clay from life (head).
Design in the round. Paper on sculptured ornament.
PUBLIC SCHOOL CLASS.
Pedagogy. Teaching exercises. Observation in the public
schools. Consideration of courses of study. Graded illustra-
tive work. Blackboarc^drawing. Details of supervision.
•
Examinations for Graduation.
Pedagogy. Essay on supervision. Essay on illustrative
work. Essay on literature of art.